


I'll Be There

by choriarty



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-30
Updated: 2012-08-31
Packaged: 2017-11-08 21:50:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/447924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/choriarty/pseuds/choriarty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil Coulson is alive and undercover. Under no circumstances is anyone who once knew him allowed to discover that he is alive. Three years go by without a hitch, until Phil gets too comfortable and slips. The Avengers must go to the city he is hiding out in and Captain America catches a look at his face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

It has been three years since Agent Phil Coulson died. Three years have passed from the time when he was stabbed by Loki Laufeyson in the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. It was exactly one month after the battle when his funeral was finally held, thanks to a large push from all of the Avengers. Director Fury had also taken part in the petition for the event, since the rules of the organization say that no agent shall have one due to CLASSIFIED reasons. After almost every single rookie, agent, engineer, worker, staff member, and Avenger had signed the paper the funeral was finally held for a very special man who believe in all of them.

It was a small ceremony, or meant to be anyways. Phil was buried in a small graveyard with an unmarked headstone. No chairs were set up, along with no tents to shelter anyone from the sudden downpour. Apparently the council had tried to make it as hard to get to as possible, the agent being placed to rest in the lower mainland of Canada of all places.

In the end, more than half of the staff who worked on the airship came; along with all of the Avengers and some people who had known Coulson from his days in the field. The bad weather of the northern country didn’t seem to hurt anyone, and even though the ground became more like a swamp than anything people stayed. After the speeches, most of the people left, though some went home a bit later after saying something to the blank grave. Others gave him flowers and wreaths, but there were little gifts given in the end. Captain Rogers went last, after a strange man whom he had never met before (black, almost spiked hair. A slight hint of stubble, with large sideburns. Well built for his average height).

Steve was alone now, crouching in front of Agent Coulson’s grave. Everyone, including his fellow teammates, had gone home or somewhere else to shelter themselves from the rain. His shoulders were soaked to the bone, along with most of his back and lower legs. He would have to remember to get a new suit for later, or maybe find a good drycleaners. The fact that the funeral took place in another country was strange to the Captain, but when Fury found out he had almost laughed. He said that the man had been there before once before, and the fact that the council thought that it was unconnected to the agent was almost funny.

Captain Rogers placed an envelope on the wet grass in front of the blank headstone, hand brushing over it as his mind wandered. He knew that he should get out of the cold and wet weather soon, but he pushed those thoughts away for the moment. Steve knew that war only took the innocent ones, he knew that it only stole those away who had the best intentions. That was war, that was life, and Steve knew it from experience.

War took those who didn’t deserve it, instead of those who did. That was the price for battle, and everyone paid it. Even those who didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve this at all. The agent had only looked out for them, the Avengers. He was always there as a buffer and a peace-keeper. He kept an eye out for them at all times, and always wanted the best for them. Steve had seen it, before the team really got together.

After he woke up, Coulson was put in charge of caring for him. It consisted of a great deal of Steve sitting in his office, reading about current events while the man worked at placing all of the pieces. The Captain watched Phil tug at all of the strings to make the team perfect, and even though he asked multiple times he never got a straight answer.

“Why do you spend so much time on this?” “Isn’t it cancelled?” “Why do this?” “Why put in the effort?”

Phillip Coulson would just smile at Captain Rogers and say “Because I believe in you heros more than anything.”

And now he was dead.

If anyone took the time to clean his office, they would find paperwork. Too much paperwork for one mortal man to handle. Coulson was never considered ‘mortal’ or ‘human’ to begin with though. They would see that anything important was coded, and quite well at that. They wouldn’t be able to decipher jack shit if they tried.

However, if a person who knew the code and was just maybe close to the agent took the time to clean his office instead, they would find intricate plans. Plans and predicted circumstances along with exactly what would happen with the Avengers. Piles upon piles of what could happen, and what exactly would. What if situations that seemed almost impossible, but the man wrote them down anyways.

Yet, with all of them, the last pages were always the messiest. They were constantly scratched out and rewritten, always with one sentence present at the end.

‘NEED SOMETHING TO PUSH THEM’

‘SOMETHING TO MOTIVATE THEM’

‘MUST HAVE CAUSE TO AVENGE’

You see, Agent Coulson was more smart than he got people to think. The man never gave up on the scrapped initiative, and he never stopped planning and pulling strings from behind the scenes. In every fictional situation, every time it would not work. The team was indeed a ticking time bomb, and unless they had some cause to unite them they would never succeed. Sure, the entire world being taken over was a big purple elephant in the room, but it needed to be personal.

Agent Coulson knew that.

And since there was no one who could read his coded plans and stories, no one would ever know that he knew that.

So Captain America stood up in front of the plain stone which was Phil’s grave. He saluted and held it for exactly one minute before turning on his heel and walking away. Something wouldn’t leave his mind though. The one thing floating around his head, the one thought that haunted him for days, was that Agent Phil Coulson was very dead.

\- - -

Agent Phil Coulson was very alive, actually.

Three years had passed since he was stabbed by Loki, and three years had passed since he attended his own funeral. To be honest, he would rather have his own funeral be more light-hearted. The man had been to one too many dim and dark ceremonies. He made sure that his actual will read that there was to be food served and chairs and tents for everyone. Canada was still a fine place to have it, somewhat ironic in a way, but Phil did enjoy jokes.

He would make sure that it was on a sunny day, and there would be flowers... or streamers or the like. Parties always had streamers, right? He would have wanted his funeral to be more of a party. The ‘Coulson Finally Uses His Vacation Time’ party. It would be fun, and hopefully no one would cry. The agent never liked it when people did that, especially dames. It always made him uncomfortable.

As was said before probably several times, it had been three years. The Avengers had dealt with multiple crisis and evil warlords of the kind. Phil had already gone through the ‘worrying mother’ phase several times a year before, and been caught by Fury trying to go undercover to check up on them. The Director chewed him out every time, saying that they did not in fact need a nanny.

Coulson would just sit and listen to the man’s lectures until he stopped talking. Then there was always a couple minutes of silence, with Fury sitting back down at his desk and scribbling on some paper. Phil just sat there and waited, watching the man.

Then he would put down the pen and sigh, cupping his face in his hands.

“M’sorry, Phil.” he would say every time.

“It’s okay, boss. I would have done the same thing.” he responded equally every time.

And he knew that his friend was telling the truth. When he was stuck in bed for the first two months, the Director came in and talked to him about the ‘old days’. They talked together about their times in their first field missions, and their first sweethearts while overseas. They spoke about when they managed to sneak alcohol into the barracks. They reminisced about times when things were easier and more peaceful.

And at the end of every visit, Fury would say sorry. He would apologize as if he was practicing his speech to the Avengers later, or as if he was a child saying sorry to hsi brother for breaking a favourite toy. Except Fury hadn’t done that, he had basically taken away Phil’s existence. He had to leave everything behind, including with his name and family. It took a lot to come to terms with.

His friend had apologized every step of the way.

Phil Coulson was not angry at Nick Fury, nor upset.

However, it was the present and not the past at the moment, and those days were in the past. Phil Coulson walked down the bustling streets of Vancouver, Canada, with a couple arms full of groceries. He was wearing a casual button down shirt along with jeans and a black belt. No one questioned him or thought the man out of place. They didn’t even give him a second glance.

The irony of Phil being stationed just a block away from where he was buried was almost stupid. Yet at the same time, no one would think that he would be here. Plus, Canada had those mutant fellows, so the Avengers wouldn’t need to come here and put Phil’s cover in jeopardy.

Phil Coulson, who was still completely and utterly not dead, looked up at the sky. Today was just another ordinary day for him.

But unknownst to the man and all of the Avengers, tomorrow would be a very different day.


	2. Three Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers are called to a familiar place.

Steve Rogers dove and rolled out of the way of a missile. Landing just a couple of feet away, the explosive hit the wall where he once was and combusted in a large ball of flames. Captain America raised his shield to protect his front and deflected numerous amounts of shrapnel.

There was a loud noise, a collection of three fast beeps, and then he heard another missile launch. Reacting quickly, the Captain whipped around his shield to face the oncoming missile. It exploded on contact with the red, white, and blue shield and he could feel the heat falling off the sides.

Before the machine could beep again, he threw his weapon at it. The shield spun through the air and cut the tip off of the gun, causing it to buzz and hiss with stress. As the Captain caught his thrown weapon, the gun exploded.

A robotic voice, came over the P.A. system. “Round 8 complete. Good job, sir.”

“Thank you JARVIS,” Steve grunted, breathing heavily. “next round?”

“Certainly sir,” the AI responded. Captain America could hear the gears whir and the room start to change. The destroyed gun retreated back into the ceiling and all of the damaged walls replaced themselves. Although the man had been in this century for three years, he was still amazed at some of the things Stark made.

He jumped to the side as part of the floor began to sink, creating a small maze. Steve smiled wearily, thinking ‘here we go again’. Just as he was about to jump in, the floor came to a halt halfway and another voice came onto the speakers. It wasn’t JARVIS.

“Avengers,” Tony Stark commanded. “assemble!”

Steve’s heart started beating faster, caught up in the moment. They hadn’t had any incidents in a while, and just recently the Avengers had locked up one of the last super villains who had escaped. What was happening?

Captain America turned on his earpiece and started talking. “What’s happening, Iron Man? I thought you were on a business trip somewhere out of the country.”

“I am,” he replied simply. “and now there is a problem here.”

Hawkeye’s voice came on and joined the conversation. “Alright, where are you?”

“Canada.”

Steve’s stomach did a perfect backflip. Canada. He hadn’t been there since-

“We haven’t been there since His funeral.” Natasha spoke for him, in her monotone voice. Even over the comm, he could hear the annoyance and suspicion laced in her tone.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Just get over here already.” Tony sighed over the phone.

“Have some respect!” Clint barked over the radio, making Steve cringe. That was loud, and this was escalating.

“Look, He wouldn’t want us to mope over Him forever! Plus, I think he would kick all of our asses if he knew we had wasted time bickering instead of saving people.” Tony argued.

There was a moment of silence over the comm, not even the Captain said anything.

Then Hawkeye spoke up. “I’ll get the Quinjet started. Cap, Nat, Bruce, get your butts over here.” Steve was already headed towards the doors of the training room when another, newer voice objected.

“Not so fast.” Director Fury interrupted. “You Avengers aren’t going to Canada.”

He could hear Hawkeye audibly sputter from the other end of the radio and Tony Stark groan. “Okay, exactly HOW did you manage to get into this frequency again?”

“I was always on it.” he pointed out. “Now turn the plane off and get the fuck back to what you were doing.”

“I’m already here.” Iron man repeated. “Besides, why wouldn’t we help?”

“That country has another bunch of heroes in tights. Trust me, they’ll handle this.”

“I’m sorry but, are you asking us to NOT help innocent people?” Tony sneered. “See, this is why I didn’t join S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“It’s not an order on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D you idiot. It’s from me. You’re not even supposed to use your suit in a foreign country.”

“Who says Canada is foreign? I mean, they speak french but come on!”

“I order you to not even THINK about going there-”

“Oh? I’m sorry! I can’t hear you over me battling a giant, real life dragon!” Tony hummed over the radio.

“Did you just say dragon?” Bruce spoke up for the first time.

“Heyyy Brucey! Glad you could join our little chat. Of course I just said dr-”

“Avengers.” Fury growled into the voice chat, making Tony shut up. “None of you are travelling to Canada. And Stark, you’re coming back home. The X-men can handle this on their own.”

There was a moment of silence. It seemed to last for an eternity, and Steve just wanted to turn off the radio and not hear anymore of this awkward argument.   
But suddenly everyone started talking at once.

“I would like to see a dragon, maybe take some samples and do some research.” “I got the Quinjet going. Anyone who wants a ride, hop on!” “Adding ‘Dragon’ to my file wouldn’t be so bad.”

Director Fury just sighed into the mic, defeated. “Have it your way,” he breathed “but I warned you.”

The last sentence got to the Captain. Warned them? Warned them about what? If it really was a danger to their health, then he would have been blunt about it. What was so bad about Canada? He had heard good things about the place; everyone was polite and there were way more trees. He couldn’t see what was so wrong with going there. Maybe those ‘X-men’ fellows didn’t appreciate other heroes helping out, or maybe something else. What if there was something waiting for them there other than the obvious dragon-?

“Come on, Cap!” Clint barked over the radio. “We’re going to leave without you!”

Steve shoved his doubts into the back of his mind and started running towards the hangar.

\- - -

Phil Coulson finished up his conversation on the phone.

“Affirmative, sir.” he spoke. “I’ll make sure to lay low. The Avengers will never know I’m here.”

“I’m not saying ‘be fucking careful’ just because of that.” Fury grumbled roughly “I mean be careful because there’s a freaking dragon flying around.”

“I will, sir.”

“Good.”

The agent removed the phone from his ear and pressed the ‘end call’ button. How he missed his earpiece. It was a nice one too, but now he was undercover and hadn’t had one for a couple of years. It was disappointing to say the least.

But his current mission was simple. Stay undercover, stay away from the Avengers, and don’t let anyone get hurt if he could help it. All in all, act like a normal human being would.

So, like a perfectly average person, Phil Coulson left his apartment to walk his neighbour’s dog. He had promised the kind, old woman that he would feed and take care of it everyday while she was away visiting her grandchildren. The woman’s name was Ruth, as Phil remembered. They had met for the first time when he had moved in several years ago. She told him that she made a habit of meeting all of the new tenants, and that anyone who was a friend of her’s was a friend of the landlord (who was her nephew). She was kind, and helped Coulson get adjusted.

Locking his own door, he took a step to the left and reached for the spare keys the lady had given him. It was very similar to his own, in the fact that there were only 2 grooves different and Phil could break in easily- no. He shoved his military training into the back of his mind and unlocked room 201’s door.

Now, normally an old woman would have a small, most likely white dog. It would probably be some sort of poodle, or other fluffy creature. However, this woman was not ordinary in the least.

As soon as the door opened a large, frightening bark came from inside. Phil Coulson didn’t flinch. The dog, who was a deep black great dane, strolled to the door to greet the agent. He wagged his tail at Coulson while the man scratched his ears, reaching for the leash hanging up near the door. “Come on, Levi.” he called fondly.

Soon the two were walking down the street, breathing in the fresh air of a recent rain. For every puddle that Agent Coulson stepped over, the dog splashed right through it, getting some water and dirt on his pant leg. The agent occasionally frowned, but thought nothing of it. He could always get his pants washed. It wasn’t like his old suits (which he also missed).

The sky was blanketed in thin, grey clouds. Not dark enough to rain, and patches opening so the sun occasionally peeked through. The leaves on the trees were covered in droplets, and dripped on the unlucky passer-by. Today was a good day for a country where it rained 10 months of the year and was cloudy for the other two. Phil didn’t even think about the whole Avengers predicament, his mind focused on the beauty of his fake home.

Suddenly the dog pulled to the left, ripping the agent from his train of thought. Levi sniffed the air and his guard hairs went up and he yanked on the leash. “Levi,” Phil scolded. “heel.”

But the dog didn’t. In fact, it pulled harder. Coulson was taken by surprise and almost lost his grip on the leash as he was pulled forward. The dog wasn’t usually like this, actually, he was never like this. It was a sudden break of character that piqued Phil’s interests. What could have gotten the dog so worked up?

\- - -

“I lost it.”

“Are you kidding, Stark?”

“Oh shut up, bird brain! I’ll find it!”

“How do you lose a dragon?”

“I don’t know! It flew behind some clouds! Those things are everywhere.”

“This IS Canada.”

“I know that, thank you.”

“Just find it before it goes into some more populated area!”

“I think it’s a bit too late for that fellas.”

“Cap! Did you find it?”

“Yes, and it found people.”

“Good going, tin man.”

“Shut it, scarecrow!”

“Settle down soldiers!”

\- - -

Coulson wondered if the Avengers were doing all right. There was a dragon on the loose after all. They could handle themselves, they had for three years, right? Fury refused to tell him anything about what was going on with them, and if they were managing themselves without Phil as their handler.

But his thoughts of the past were cut off by Levi yanking on the leash once again. This time, it actually came free from his hands and the dog ran off, barking into the fog. “Levi!” the agent called desperately. Oh jeez, this was not good. What was Ruth going to say about this? He had rather like both the lady and her dog. Coulson started into a run, calling out the hound’s name multiple times.

He coughed, the fog was getting thicker. In fact, he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face anymore. Phil whipped around, confused and pumped with adrenalin from running. Where was he? He couldn’t make out the houses or the street names on the road. Hoping for the beast to come back to him, he vainly called the dog’s name one more time, walking backwards into the fog. The agent coughed more, this was a thick fog all right.

Then he remembered that there was no fog earlier. In fact, there were barely any clouds in the sky just five minutes ago. Coulson stopped in his tracks, a grim reality setting in. This wasn’t fog. This was smoke.

A low rumble shook the ground underneath him and Agent Coulson staggered. Taking a step backwards, he tripped over a log- wait, what? What log? The man landed on his rear and snapped his head up, staring with wide eyes at the red, scaly tail that just tripped him. Another growl drew his gaze upwards.

Phil Coulson found himself staring into the face of a gigantic dragon.


	3. The Dragon and The Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get the current situation told from a few other people's points of view.

To start this chapter, you will need to educate yourself on dragons.

If you have not taken a class in Senior Dragon Mythology, Anatomy, and Biology; you will not be qualified to start this part of the story. Perhaps, if you were instead enrolled in The University Of Dragons in Surrey or maybe the College of Mythology and Dragonology in London, you may also be allowed to read this.

Until then, please look away from the page and do not read it. That would be extremely rude.

But.. maybe we can make an exception.

You will need to speak to one of the dragon representatives located in your country. Unfortunately, all of them seem to be busy at the moment. If you will wait a few seconds, we will connect you to the nearest representative. Thank you for your time.

\- - -

Today, of all days, was not a good day for this particular red dragon.

His name was too complicated and long to pronounce, unless you took Dragon Language for Midgardians, but you probably did not. So we will spare you the trouble by calling him ‘George’.

Now, George here was a normal dragon. Not particularly big, not any more fiery, not very scaly compared to other dragons. He was just an average joe of the dragons. Really had no business being on Midgard in the first place. George was just some poor creature that had been pulled into this realm on a whim, was picked randomly actually. It would have done the summoner much better to grab a bigger and meaner dragon, but he was stuck with George.

The dragon didn’t want to be here. He was in the middle of having a nice snooze before he was dragged here, and he was very confused. One minute he was in his cave, resting on his comfy pile of gold and riches, the next he was stuck on some cold mountain somewhere very, very far away. It wasn’t the best thing to wake up to, quite rude actually. The fact that he appeared there and not somewhere else was more of the summoner’s fault. A misplaced spawning point was probably the product of weak magic power. Rather not being trained enough, not having a good amount of magic in the first place, or maybe the summoner being in a different form.

Maybe an animal?

Putting that subject away for now, the matter at hand is that George was a very unlucky dragon.

He found himself flying around this new world, trying to find some way to get back home. It was very cold and wet here, he noticed. Not the best place for a dragon like himself. He started towards a warmer place, closer to the sea. However, unknownst to him, he was heading straight towards a more populated area.

To be more specific, he was heading right towards the city where Tony Stark was having a very important meeting.

\- - -

Tony Stark was stuck in a meeting that wasn’t very important at all. More of a formal thing, which he disliked very much. It was boring and dull, old obese men standing up and talking about statistics. Blah blah blah. Tony slouched back in his chair, kicking his feet up onto the table. His sunglasses fell back onto his eyes from the tip of his nose and he looked up at the plain, white ceiling. It was much more interesting than what was happening now.

Stark suddenly felt a burning gaze to the side of his skull. A shiver creeped up his spine and the room was colder. Turning his head to the left, Pepper was giving him a look that could kill. If he could get something with that kind of power into a weapon Tony Stark would be a very, very safe man.

For now, he was very uncomfortable, so he put his boots back down onto the floor. His glasses fell back down to the very tip of his nose and he gave the woman a wink. She replied by intensifying that death stare. Tony’s smile dropped and he pushed his sunglasses back up, trying to look like he was paying attention.

What would he do without that woman?

The rest of the meeting passed with ease, Tony paying attention to only half of the things they were going on about. He glanced at the white clock on the wall every other second. Come on, come on. Almost finished. Just a bit more.

One of the men stood up. He brushed off his jacket with one hand and held notes with the other. “Thank you all for coming” he mumbled. Tony shifted in his seat. This was it.

“This has been this year’s annual Stark Industries board meeting-”

Suddenly a more electronic voice cut the air and interrupted the man speaking. Tony internally cringed at his last glimpse of freedom lost.

“Sir,” spoke JARVIS from his phone. “I must warn you of-”

“JARVIS, please. I’m in the middle of something.” he said, more for the sake of saving his hide from Pepper.

“But there is-”

“Can it wait just a minute? Pepper is going to kill me.”

“There is something large heading your way, sir.” the AI finally finished.

Then there was the loud sound of disturbed air, as a gigantic red dragon flew past the office window.

Several of the men stood up and the others gasped. Pepper grabbed onto the arms of her chair and Tony just raised his eyebrows and frowned. She looked at the playboy philanthropist and scowled, saying with her eyes ‘don’t you dare’. He looked at her with an innocent expression and shrugged, standing up.

“Well, gentlemen,” Tony Stark spoke in his smartass tone. “that was an excellent meeting. Why don’t you all go out to the bar and have a couple of beers, hm?”

A smile spread across his face and he picked up the unassuming metal suitcase from beside his chair. “I have a date.”

Tony almost skipped away from the table and raised his case up to his chest. Finally some excitement! And a dragon at that! He hadn’t fought a dragon yet, this was going to be great. Then he stopped in his tracks as a Pepper Potts stepped into his path, blocking it. His smile was wiped from his face.

“Hey, uhh.”

“Just go,” she said, a reluctant and all-knowing grin spreading across her face. Tony responded with an even wider one. “before I change my mind.”

And he did.

\- - -

Please wait while we connect you to the nearest dragon representative.

...............

We’re sorry. It seems that your nearest dragon representative is currently very busy. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Please wait while we connect you to the next nearest mythological or magical being.

\- - -

Levi, if you don’t remember is the black dog, was a very content dog.

He enjoyed living the easy life; sleeping all day if he wished and going out for walks. He got free meals and sometimes when he did something good he got a treat. His dog bed was comfy and warm, and so was the rest of his house. If he wanted to go outside he was allowed to do so as long as he stayed within sight, and he got lots and lots of affection. More than he could ever dream of.

Though he only came to this world three years ago, he had enjoyed every second of it. Levi didn’t want to trade the entire world for what he had.

The dog didn’t always think like that.

Three years ago he appeared on this world. He was thrown to an alley and left to fend to himself. Levi wasn’t the strongest of dogs, he was lanky and tall but with practically no muscle. It took all of his cleverness to get out of each fight, every one being harder to escape from than the last. He was scarred and bitten and scratched and bruised, and no one would look at him on the street.

Then again, he wouldn’t look at them either.

Whenever someone did try to help him, the dog snarled and bared his sharp, white teeth. Levi did not want to be turned into the authorities known as The Pound. He refused. Anyone who would try to help was obviously too incompetent to do so themselves, and would report him as a stray or a mongrel. He was neither of those. Levi was cold and unsocial for a dog, and for almost half a year he ran from the nastier parts of the city.

Until one night he was just too tired from running. The other stray dogs had caught up with him and he had already been in two fights that day. The moon was in the middle of the sky and everyone was asleep, so no human could help him if they heard the racket.

Levi was desperate. He would even go to the pound, he didn’t want to die.

However the dog was caught between a rock and a hard place. The ferocious creatures were descending upon him and he was stuck in an alleyway. There was a tall fence behind him and nasty wild dogs in front, it seemed like his life would end here of all places.

But then a kind old lady came to his rescue.

She took him in and cared for him, fed him and bathed him. Levi slept for days and then woke up only to eat more than a normal dog could. He was never a normal dog though. Before he knew it, he had been staying with this old woman for two months, and he felt the need to leave. 

She was going to betray him. They all did, everyone he cared about threw him to the gutter and left him to die. Various times, Levi tried to escape. He would try to slip past the woman when she opened the door, he would stand up and try to open the doors himself, and eventually it got to the point where he told himself he would make her kick him out.

Levi barked loudly and constantly, trying to get complaints or attention from the neighbours. However, when he finally did they seemed too nice to be true. When the old lady told them about how she found him they were sympathetic, they pitied him. Soon people even left free chew toys for him or donated dog food to the woman.

He was getting desperate, he wanted out before he changed his mind.

It all ended one day when Levi stooped to his lowest. When the lady was carrying tea to the living room upon a tray, the dog made sure that he barked loud and knocked it over in the most destructive way possible. And it finally worked.

The china set fell to the ground with a clatter and crash as the old woman gasped in surprise. Pieces of white and pink teapot and cups were scattered all over the wooden floor. Levi felt accomplished. He was finally out, this had to be it.

However his pride didn’t last long when he saw the heartbroken expression on Ruth’s face. She just stayed glued to where she fell on her knees and stared at the carnage. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was tight, as if she was trying not to cry. The only thing she said was ‘Levi, be careful. You could hurt yourself on the broken china.’

Levi didn’t feel good at all. Out of his entire time being a clever and mischievous dog, he had never felt guilt except for now. This old woman, who could die any day, went out of her way to fend this stray from wild dogs. She took him home and nursed him to health. He repaid her with this.

Levi felt like shit.

‘Oh, Lester,’ she breathed shakily. The dog’s ears perked up at the name. He had heard it before, he had seen it before. ‘I’m sorry I was clumsy. I must be getting weaker in my old age, eh?’

Lester was the man in the portrait above the couch. There was a black and white photo of him, strapping and young, kissing a youthful and newly married Ruth. There were smaller pictures in her bedroom, each holding the man and her together. They were smiling, laughing, teasing, and sometimes it was just the man known as Lester.

Levi flinched, expecting a slap when instead he got a pet behind the ears. Ruth let out a breath of air and sat on the floor. ‘Lester gave me that old tea set as a wedding gift,’ she sighed, still staring at the mess on the floor. ‘it was the only thing I had left of his.’

The dog had never felt guilt before, but now he knew what he had done. He owed this old woman so much, and he threw her kindness and love back in her face. When she finally stood up and started cleaning the mess, Levi trotted over to the corner where his bed was. He layed there for a good long time, thinking about how this was so alien to him.

He had never felt bad for a misdeed before, nor ever been loved this much. He had never had someone care about him or worry for him for... a very long time. It should have felt good.

But right then he only felt bad.

After that incident, Levi dedicated the rest of the short dog life he had to repaying this old woman. He owed her his life... and so much more. The dog took care of her as much as she did him, protecting the house and her from anything that could come in the way. He made sure to inspect any visitors thoroughly for any ulterior or dark motives. Levi made a promise to himself that he would never misbehave or break this woman’s heart ever again for as long as he lived.

He used to be so alone, and he owed her so much.

So when it was the time for the old woman to go on a vacation, he was not the happiest camper. He couldn’t protect her or be near her for an entire week and all though he was more than sure she could take care of herself, it still made him uneasy. However, he didn’t have a say in things and he was put in the care of a neighbour. Levi knew that the man was capable of keeping an eye on him, so he was not worried for himself. Besides, he wasn’t going to misbehave any time soon. Ruth would find out and the news would make her sad.

That was the absolute last thing Levi wanted.

In the end he was fine with being taken care of by the man. He knew what he was doing and they both had a mutual respect for one another. It was a good relationship. That morning the man had taken Levi out on a walk down their normal route. It was always pleasant to go outside; however the dog was conflicted whether to stay inside with his owner’s scent and protect the house, or to go outside and get some fresh air. In the end he went with the neighbour and took a stroll.

But that day something was wrong. Very wrong. After a couple of blocks Levi could smell something strong and ashy, something like sulphur. The dog’s hair stood on end as they got closer, and soon he was dragging his temporary caregiver down the roads that would lead him to the source. The smell was of something old and ancient, a being not of this world.

It didn’t belong here.

With a purpose, Levi got free of the man’s grip and ran down the street. He could now hear the voice of the creature, it was confused and hurt. It continued on about how it wanted to go home, how it wasn’t where it belonged, and how it got attacked for no reason. Hoping to get to the beast before the man, Levi ran as fast as his four legs could take him and ended up face to face with the thing.

The dog asked the dragon what happened, and it told him. Using telepathy, the dragon showed the last hour to him. Sleeping, waking up in a foreign land, trying to find a way home, being attacked by a metal man, trying to escape, and finally flying to this park here.

Levi wanted to help the dragon, but alas he was a dog and did not have any magic to return him to his world. He wasn’t motivated by the common idea of ‘doing the right thing’, his reason was actually very selfish. He wanted this monster out of here before A) he wrecked something around Levi’s neighbourhood or put his caretaker in danger and B) attracted that metal man here so they could fight and wreck things anyways.

Levi knew that if the metal man was coming, there were more on the way.

As he was brainstorming on how to get rid of this beast, the dog failed to notice the man who was tasked by the old lady to care for him calling him. Coulson ran at a pace safe enough to stop at a moment’s notice, but he couldn’t see through the sudden smoke and fog that had descended onto the area. He called Levi’s name once more and the dog snapped out of his zone. He needed to get the man out of here before he found the dragon.

No, he needed to get the dragon out of here before-

and then it was too late. Coulson came to a stop and looked up at the great red beast towering above him. Levi was a couple of metres in front of him, trying to communicate to the thing to leave. However, George didn’t want to go in fear of coming into contact with the Iron Man again. The dog barked and snapped the man out of his daze. He looked from Levi back to George, then back to Levi again.

Whistling, he called the dog. He trotted to the man and was rewarded with a scratch behind the ears.

“Good dog.” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, don't worry. Things will happen soon I just needed some development.
> 
> PLOT WILL HAPPEN SOON JUST BEAR WITH ME.


	4. Then Everything Goes Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get better, and then they suddenly get worse.

Steve Rogers sat on the bench in the Quinjet, hands clasped in his lap and looking at the floor. He was anxious, but didn’t know why. Things ran through his head that had nothing to do with the mission, and then they were replaced with plans for their confrontation with the... dragon. It wasn’t the idea of the team fighting such a creature that made his unnerved, but it was a combination of other things.

Why did Fury not want them to go to Canada? He understood the premises of his base reason, which was because it wasn’t in their country. They had no business crossing the border into the other land above them without requesting permission first; however they had saved the world more than once, so the reason was a bit unbacked. The Avengers had travelled into space and other worlds, Fury not wanted them in this country was a bit suspicious on its own.

Yet the Captain wouldn’t have suspected anything if it were normal circumstances. The Director had his own reasons and he knew what he was doing, why should he question the man even if he was disobeying him? The reason was small and somewhat unconnected. It was far fetched and unrealistic, but Steve still couldn’t help but connect them.

Agent Coulson had been buried there. In this country of all places, and now after three years the team was called back. The same country, the same sta- province, the same city. It had to be some sort of crazy coincidence. Even if something was amiss, how would they even be connected? Phil Coulson was dead, it wasn’t like he was MIA, no matter how much Steve and the rest of the team wished.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Hawkeye groaned. He was sitting on the other side of the Quinjet, head back against the wall and staring up at the ceiling. His arms were splayed out to the sides like he was trying to take up as much room as possible. Black Widow sat in the seat behind the pilot, watching the man’s movements and the status of the different gauges on the control board. Her gaze was fixed on the board on switches and buttons, as if waiting for the pilot to mess up so she could take over. She was an excellent flyer herself, but one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s pilots were better.

“This whole ride over to the north pole has been slowly killing me with the atmosphere. I mean have you guys looked at yourselves? You look like you’re headed back to another stupid funeral.” Barton broadcasted. Natasha’s gaze in the front sharply turned to the man, her head completely still while doing so. She shot Hawkeye a look and her mouth twitched.

“It’s true!” he barked defensively, somewhat put off by the death glare of death. “You two have been moping the entire time. We are not reliving three years ago.”

The last sentence hung in the air for a moment. No one said a thing, you could hear a pin drop.

“It’s just,” Steve started. “this thing seems strange. Stranger than anything else we’ve done. It feels like... like the world knows something we don’t.” The Captain sat up in his seat, looking up directly at Hawkeye now. He removed his hands from his lap and crossed them.

“I know, I feel that way too! But we can’t let that get in the way of the mission.” The archer huffed and got up from his slouching position on the seat. He walked towards the bay door and looked away from Steve.

“Coulson is dead.” he hissed. “He’s gone, so just move on.”

Steve didn’t like his tone, even if it sounded like he was talking more to himself than anyone in the plane. He stood up suddenly and uncrossed his arms, moving them to his sides and balling them into fists. Captain America knew he was dead, he knew it as much as anyone else but he didn’t appreciate how Hawkeye said it. Even Bruce, who had managed to stay quiet and unnoticed for a good portion for the trip, cringed at Baron’s harsh words. Steve glared at the back of the man’s head, willing him to turn around. He wanted to punch him or do something else that he would regret. He didn’t care, what he said had made him angry,

Bruce reacted in a similar way, however he didn’t stand up. His eyes flashed green for a split second, then he clamped them shut and they were brown again. He focused his gaze at the wall in front of him as if he would burn a hole through it. They weren’t over the drop site yet, and it wouldn’t do anyone good if He came out now. The Agent was a touchy subject that no one brought up, it was a thing that no one had accepted and yet everyone had.

Every once in awhile, a mission would go sour. The team would blame each other, or maybe blame the leaders. It was rare that people spoke what their actual opinion was. That things would go better if it wasn’t some S.H.I.E.L.D. agent or Maria Hill and instead was Coulson. Sometimes someone would slip and bring it up, and everyone would tense. The Avengers would stop bickering and some would leave the room, maybe one person would mumble and grumble that they were right, or that He shouldn’t be brought up.

It wasn’t until the subject stared the team in the face that they remembered the lost agent, it was like a scar you forgot about until you changed your clothes or took a shower; a wound that stung when you went swimming, or a bruise that didn’t hurt until you hit the same spot again.

No one liked to bring Coulson up because everyone knew that he wasn’t Avenged.

They had defeated Loki, but the team was never perfect. Phil had believed in heroes and these ones bickered and disagreed. Each Avenger knew that the team would never live up to the man’s dream.

“Agent Coulson wouldn’t want you to fight.” came a cold voice from the front of the Quinjet. Hawkeye, Bruce, and Steve snapped out of it and looked at Natasha, who was staring into the distance. She was looking at someone that wasn’t there as she slowly went on.

“He would want us all to focus on the people we were sent here to help.”

Captain Rogers looked down in embarrassment. He shouldn’t have jumped up or gotten so emotional like that, it was unprofessional. Black Widow was right, everyone needed to keep their eyes on the prize.

“We’re over the drop site, ladies and gentlemen.” announced the pilot. He didn’t break his eye contact with the control panel or the windshield as he did so. “Parachutes are three to a wall on each side, I’ll cover you from the air.”

The reality of the situation sunk in a bit more and Natasha was the first to get up and reach for one of the backpacks. As she grabbed it, the pilot flipped a switch on the control board and the bay door started opening. Suddenly the loud sound of wind roaring past the jet cut through the air and dulled everything else. Romanova gave a quick glance back to the other Avengers from the edge of the platform and gesture towards her ear, turning the earpiece on. Steve and Hawkeye followed her example and then she jumped. The woman was gone in a split second and Barton tensed up a bit. He knew that she would be fine but the little things made him nervous just like any other person, he never dared showed it around Widow.

Captain America put his cowl on and gave the archer a slap on the back, he looked right back at him with his usual cocky smile. He spoke into the earpiece.

[Hey, Stark. I bet I can take the thing down before you.]

Iron Man spoke up from his side of the line [You’re on, Robinhood.]

Giving a mock salute to the Captain, Hawkeye jogged to the open bay doors and jumped. Steve watched him and then lingered for a moment. He directed his attention to the good doctor next. Bruce looked right back at him with a weary smile, rolling his eyes. He stood up, taking his time, and brushed off his pants and shirt. In order to save what clothing he had left, the man unbuttoned his shirt while Steve looked away to be polite. They had nothing to hide though, so he turned back to him and gave him an encouraging smile. Bruce gave him a look and sighed, it had been the sixth time this week that he had transformed. Both Steve and Tony were set on letting the doctor take a break. However, he gave him a smile right back. 

“Give me a moment.” he said into the wind.

In a couple of seconds, Bruce had handed control over to The Other Guy. The green creature grinned at the Captain when he was finished, who just gave him a curt nod. The Hulk growled happily and leapt out the end of the Quinjet, roaring into the screaming winds.

The last man left was Captain America. He already had his parachute on his back, and he had no one else to see out. He approached the bay doors and felt the air whip at his face, it had been a very long time since he dropped from a plane anywhere. He was just about to follow the others when a voice spoke up behind him, using the radio in his ear.

[Hey, Captain.] the pilot said, looking back at the iconic man from his seat. There were some retro flying goggles on his face, though he didn’t need it. He was flashing a bit of a nervous smile, like anyone who talked to Captain America. [My Nanna lives around here, so... do your best okay?]

Captain America looked at the man, surprised. Normally the people who drove or flew whatever The Avengers needed didn’t talk much, maybe point out a thing or two but that was it. Steve’s face relaxed and he gave the man a thumbs up.

[Hey, Spangled Panties, are you coming to the party or what?] Tony Stark spoke up over the radio. Steve blushed at the name and sputtered, making the man in the front of the plane raise his eyebrow in confusion. He waved the pilot off and spoke into the mic.

[Don’t call me that.]

There was a couple of people laughing on the radio when Captain America jumped off the Quinjet.

\- - -

“Hello,” Agent Coulson broadcast to the red dragon towering over him. “welcome to Midgard. I assume that you’re from one of the other Norse Realms. I must ask you to stand down, we are in a highly populated area.”

George the dragon relaxed his tensed up muscles and folded his wings to his sides. The dog assured him that the mortal meant no harm, all though he was a bit hard to trust since he was not even a dog in the first place. Would you trust someone who said they were a dog but they weren’t? It was hard to believe him, but the man seemed trustworthy. He carried himself well and smelled of battle experience.

“I suspect that you are intelligent enough to understand me, can you give me some sign that you do? 

George snorted smugly, a plume of smoke shooting from his nostrils. The agent suddenly heard a voice that was deep and ancient talking in the back of his skull.

{OF COURSE, MORTAL. HOWEVER I SUSPECT THAT YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE NATIVE TONGUE OF DRAGONS, SO I SHALL SPEAK TO YOU THIS WAY.}

Coulson stiffened a bit, startled at the voice. He looked up at the great creature and nodded. “Then we have an agreement. You wouldn’t believe how many monsters or aliens land on our planet and aren’t as polite as a dragon to negotiate.” he grinned. The dragon did also, in the way that dragons often do. “Now I can tell them that a mythological creature is more civilized than them.”

{IF YOU HAD APPROACHED ME ANY SOONER, MAN, THEN I AM AFRAID THAT THIS WOULDN’T BE THE CASE.} George spoke. Coulson raised an eyebrow and the dog, who was not a dog, wagged his tail slightly. The dragon let out a loud breath that made the air rumble and heat up.

{THE BEING THAT SUMMONED ME HERE ALSO PLACED A CONFUSION HEX ON ME, I WAS NOT IN THE RIGHT MIND UP UNTIL RECENTLY.}

“What changed that?”

Levi shot the dragon a look of silence, and he returned the glance in recognition. The dog didn’t want Phil to figure out everything just yet, plus this conversation was going on too long. If the group didn’t start moving then the heroes would catch up to them, and the neighbourhood would be ruined within minutes.

George looked back to Coulson and huffed again. {IT DOES NOT MATTER AT THE MOMENT. THE PRIORITY NOW IS TO ABSCOND SOMEWHERE FARTHER AWAY FROM BYSTANDERS. I TRUST THAT YOUR NEGOTIATION SKILLS MAY COME IN HANDY WHEN DEALING WITH MY PURSUERS.}

Coulson wasn’t dumb, he knew when the subject was being changed. However the dragon was right about the situation at hand. They needed to get out of the city before the armed forces or The Avengers came and found them, for both the civilians and the agent’s cover.

“I understand, thank you for being reasonable.”

{DRAGONS DO NOT LIVE FOR MILLENNIA BECAUSE THEY ARE MINDLESS BEASTS, NOW DO THEY?}

Both the agent and the dragon smiled in the slight way that they do. Levi barked and Coulson pet his head, scratching behind the ears.

\- - -

“It’s a fucking trap.” Nick Fury hissed.

The control room of the helicarrier was in shambles; humming and buzzing wires sticking out from the walls, half of the screens were virtually impossible to salvage and half of the ones left were cracked. The sick smell of smoke and burning flesh was something to choke on and the man could still hear piece of the ship cracking and breaking in other rooms. The sound of yelling and screaming had died down by that point and only the sound of people moaning was audible.

Director Fury put pressure on the part of his head that was bleeding and limped to one of the radio stations. The agent who sat there just five minutes ago was slumped over the controls and he didn’t know if he was dead or not. The variable was confirmed when Fury placed two fingers on his neck and sighed wearily. He hated writing letters to families.

He pushed the body off of the rolling chair and it landed on the metal grate with a disturbing thump. Letting out a breath, he held a pair of headphones to his ear. Thankfully the pair he had grabbed was working, if not badly, and he started changing the frequency. Nick frowned even deeper when all he could pick up was static. Motherfucker, pick up.

It was a painful five minutes trying to find someone out there, anyone. Fury kept at it though, he would contact someone even if it killed him. Which it might. At last, he got a hold of one of his agent’s radios in another country.

“Papa Hotel India Leema, this is Director Fury. Respond.” he growled into the microphone.

There was no response. Nick swore out loud and messed with a couple of dials again before attempting a second time.

“Phil! God fucking dammit, answer your radio!”

“Sir, I’m here. Is something-”

“It’s a fucking trap!”

\- - -

Iron Man was the first to spot it.

[I found Barney!] he exclaimed proudly.

[That wasn’t even a good one, Stark.] Hawkeye groaned. [Where is it?]

[Flying over... uh. Hell, I don’t know any of the names of the places here! Who does?]

Not wanting for this to delay them any longer, Captain Rogers butt in. [Send your co-ordinates, Iron Man.]

[Fine, fine.] he whined. [It’s heading east, away from the more populated cities.]

[That’s good. Just don’t let it-]

[Wait, what the hell?]

If you were looking at George from the point of view of Tony Stark, you would be seeing a very strange sight. As the great, red dragon made its way farther from Vancouver (like Coulson advised it to), there was a sudden flash of light from the left. The source of said flash was vague and unknown, since Tony was keeping his eye on the creature a couple of miles in front of him. The man only noticed the large, white ball of light when it was too late.

The confusion hex collided with the beast and a terrifying roar descended over the area. As the light from the spell faded, there were still some tendrils of magic licking the sides of the dragon. It growled softly, struggling to recover from the hit it just took to the side.

In a second, the creature reared its ugly head and glared straight at Iron Man. It screeched loud enough to break glass, spewing blue fire from its great maw.

Then it started flying towards him.

[Tony, are you alright?] the man suddenly realized he was being spoken to.

[Houston, we have a problem.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I promise that the actual shippy stuff will come! Probably the next chapter or the one after that. I might add a bit of Bruce/Tony, but that depends on how I feel. 
> 
> I don't want this fic to be *just* shippy stuff. I want it to be shippy with good adventures and plot so, yeah. That's why there's a delay on the fluff stuff.
> 
> I have a huge plot worked out though, so things are going to get intense in the future.


	5. And Then

Levi started barking, blocking out most of the swears that Director Fury was spouting. It was something about answering his radio, but the dog was being too loud. He shot him a look and shoosh’d him. Levi didn’t pay any heed.

“Sir, I’m here. Is something-” he began but was cut off.

“It’s a fucking trap!” Fury swore into the comm.

Just in time, there was an ear-shattering roar in the distance. Levi started to bark louder and more frequently and Coulson looked up and saw the dragon in the sky. Something was horribly wrong. Horribly, terribly wrong.

There was another head-splitting screech and Phil forced his eyes shut as he clamped his hands to his ears. The dog, who was a couple of feet away, yelped and whined. It was almost as if the ground started to shake. When the sound had stopped, Coulson warily lowered his arms. He scanned the skies for the dragon, knowing that something had killed their plan.

The sound of fighting could be heard from where the agent stood, trying to search for the commotion. Through the clouds he could see fire spouting, mixed with somewhat random beams of blue. The Avengers had arrived.

Not good.

Levi barked at him again. Phil looked to where the call came from and found that the dog had already started towards the housing closer to the battle. Smart dog, he thought. Breaking into a run, Coulson caught up to the canine. It started running as soon as they were close enough to each other.

In only a couple of minutes, the two of them arrived at an apartment complex. Phil started knocking on doors and shouting for people to leave to area as soon as possible. Complaining, the tenants stumbled out of their respectable homes only to look up and notice the fighting. Families took their children, single tenants met their neighbours for the first time, and the dog and the agent continued to evacuate the houses.

He wasn’t on-duty officially. At the moment, Phil Coulson wasn’t even an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

But running from place to place with a friend that had his back, shadowed by the constant danger of being caught up in the battle. It felt normal.

\- - -

Agent Sitwell disliked Thursdays. He could never get the hang of Thursdays.

The base was a mess in more ways than one. People ran about the building trying to set things straight, repairing necessary equipment or attempting to get a hold on some of the radio frequencies. Tables were flipped and walls were charred to a pitch black, with some sections missing. Large, fat wires hung from the ceiling and sparked in different directions.

Not the best day.

It started off fine. The day was warm and bright with the sun beating down on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Europe base. It wasn’t raining for once in... ever. All of the agents who had been there for long enough suddenly took the day off or were messing around outside in some way. You didn’t hear it from him, but Jasper Sitwell was one of the few who did neither.

He played hookie.

And boy was he going to get beaten for it but he didn’t care. A sunny day where the base was stupidly set up was like finding a wallet on the street that turned out to be the Queen’s and returning it to her and being rewarded with an estate. To put it bluntly, it barely ever happened.

Sitwell wasn’t one for playing hookie. This was the first time in his entire career. The agent was one of the top. He was young, fit, intelligent, he worked up the ranks like nobody’s business, and he was loyal. Paperwork or spending a day in the office was fine with him, it never piled up like with Phil but like every agent he got some of it. He had no problem with paperwork.

But today was sunny.

Jasper Sitwell sat on one of those fancy chairs at a cafe. He had a table for two all to himself on the outside porch of the business, soaking in the sun. He was probably able to make over a dozen plant and photosynthesis metaphors in this situation, but he resisted the urge. Instead he just took another sip of his lemonade as the cold drops of condensation formed on the side of the plastic cup and got his hand wet.

Sitwell noticed a familiar old lady walk down the sidewalk beside the fence of the cafe’s area. Taking a loud and unprofessional slurp from his drink, he waved to her. It took a moment, but she noticed him and gave the agent a fond smile. Jasper responded with another one.

“Good afternoon, Jasper,” Ruth said as she hobbled over to the table. Agent Sitwell quickly got up and pulled the other chair out for her. She nodded and thanked him politely.

“Afternoon, ma’am.” he responded, picking his drink back up and sitting down once more. “How are you, can I get you a drink?”

“Ah, no thank you. I’m quite fine. My vacation is going very well,” the old lady beamed. “though I do constantly worry for Levi.”

“I’m sure that your neighbour will take care of him. From the things you’ve told me he seems like a responsible and honest person.”

“Oh yes, he is! I know he’ll take good care of the dog, but I still worry. Levi is like a son to me.” She seemed to look out into space then, somewhere farther than Sitwell could ever see. He let her think about her pet and took another sip or his drink.

Ruth was a nice old lady. She stopped by the base every day or two to check up on her grandson, who worked as a pilot in S.H.I.E.L.D. However, he was still stationed in the North America Headquarters so she was turned down. The staff and agents at the base knew of her already, she had been a member of the organization when she was younger.

“So,” she began. “do I have to walk all the way down to your base or...?”

“Sorry, ma’am, he’s not here today either. I know that he was supposed to fly over this morning, but there was a problem and he’s on a mission.”

“Ah. I understand.” she breathed sadly. It broke Jasper’s heart just a bit to see her disappointed again; however missions were missions.

Then a million things happened at once. Something big hit the base a couple miles away and Agent Sitwell had to leave fast. As he drove down the gravel road in the black SUV, there were more explosions. He could hear the cries and screams from inside and he had to swerve the vehicle to avoid getting hit by debris.

There was another boom when he entered the facility, he dove for cover and was just nicked by a falling piece of ceiling. People ran up and down the hallways giving orders and warnings to others. The base was under attack,

from itself.

Wires broke free from the walls and whipped at staff, electrocuting them. Security turrets extended from the floor and began shooting an entire crowd. Sitwell bit his tongue and swore under his breath from where he was taking cover, if he didn’t act fast more people would die. God forbid this thing, whatever it was, moving to the populated area.

Agent Sitwell broke the window to the control room and dove in. Three men laid dead on the floor and one was slumped over the electrical panel. The huge wire noticed the man jump in and whipped around to meet him. He rolled to the side and leapt onto the cable’s unexposed end. In two seconds, he broke the glass to the fire axe box and used it to cut the thing at the base. Immediately, it fell to the floor and stopped moving.

With heavy breath, Agent Sitwell grabbed the mic on the table and spoke into it.   
“Agents! Listen up, this is Agent Sitwell speaking. Whoever is able to do so must get to the generator room and SHUT THIS ENTIRE PLACE DOWN. We can recover lost data when the base is no longer possessed!”

He flicked the thing off and slumped to the floor, holding the gash on his leg. Sitwell quickly took off his jacket and ripped off a sleeve without hesitating. He tied it above the oozing wound to cut off circulation and took a deep breath. His job wasn’t over yet.

Things were calming down just a bit as the agent limped through the halls. Wires had been cut or destroyed left and right, and turrets had been disabled or blown up. There were more casualties than he would have liked. It didn’t take Agent Sitwell long to make it back to the base entrance.

He took out his cellphone and started dialing. The thing rung once, twice, and was answered in the middle of the third.

“This had better be important, Sitwell.”

“The base is alive, sir. We are in the middle of taking care of it.”

“Fuck. Not another one.”

“We have things under control, Director Fury. There are men attempting to shut the power grid down.”

“You fucking better. I don’t want any more men killed or injured, you hear? I’ve had enough of this motherfucker that is taking control of our facilities.”

“At least we know it isn’t Stark...” Agent Sitwell trailed off. His eyes widened and he stared at the person standing at the front gates.

“Sitwell? What the hell is going on? Are you still there?”

“Sorry, sir. I- There’s- I need to go.”

Agent Sitwell hung up and started sprinting towards the fence, waving his arms warningly. The figure at the gates didn’t seem to notice and walked closer. The little old lady looked around the courtyard from the edge of the perimeter, as if searching for someone. The agent yelled at the top of his lungs to try and get her attention.

“Ruth! Run! Get out of here! The base is-”

Immediately, a large turret emerged from the ground and spun around to meet the old lady. She gasped and froze to the spot, paralyzed in shock. “NO!” Sitwell cried as several rounds went off. The woman hit the ground, dead.

Jasper wished that the engineers had turned off the power grid one second sooner.

The gun, taller than the agent himself, turned to face him. He could see the red pointer stare him down as it warmed up to fire.

Then there was the sound of electrical equipment shutting down. The turret slumped over and all the sounds of chaos stopped. There was the low hum of the facility shutting down. In a moment, it was all quiet. No buzzing of the electrical fences, no clicking or beeping of the security cameras. Only the sound of the dead.

Agent Sitwell ran over to the lady on the ground. It wasn’t like in the movies at all; no last couple seconds to say any last words, no harsh breathing and a final request, no single tear running down a face. Just an old woman who had walked into a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility at the worst possible time. Her face was pale and looking at her made the agent’s stomach tighten with guilt.

What was he going to tell the pilot?

\- - -

Captain America winced as the dragon let out another piercing screech. He had felt uneasy for the entire battle, and not because of the fact that they were fighting a dragon. They had defeated countless aliens and other-worldly creatures, but this was different. The monster sounded like it was in pain.

Steve had even avoided hitting it with his shield a couple of times, earning him a good jab from Iron Man. The Hulk was almost indifferent to the strange behavior of the creature. Hulk wasn’t dumb, and had also noticed the suspiciousness. He however forgot after the dragon had continued to attack and swing its tail right at the green guy.

Tony Stark didn’t seem to catch on at all.

Even though the team tried to keep the dragon far away from civilization, it couldn’t be helped when they ended up in a suburb on the outskirts of town. Captain America had ordered Black Widow and Hawkeye to evacuate the people, but in a few moments the reported back that they had already left. Steve thanked whoever was out there who had done that.

[I’m running low on power, this thing just keeps taking hits!] Iron Man barked on the radio.

[Tell me about it!] Hawkeye responded. [I’m almost out of arrows. In this rate we’re going to be half-dead before we make even a small scratch on the thing!]

Clint was right. The dragon had no signs of damage on it at all, it looked exactly the same as when it first landed on the ground. Everyone was slowly getting tired and if this lasted a couple more hours, they wouldn’t last long. Even Steve was starting to feel the heat.

[Do you think Loki is behind this?] Clint wondered out loud into the mic.

[That’s impossible, he was taken back to Asgard years ago.] Said a female voice.

[Well it’s obvious this thing isn’t from space. Where else would he come from? Olympus?]

The dragon roared again, spewing fire from its gaping maw. Captain America ducked behind his shield and a very angry Hulk roared right back at it, covering his face with his arm. Everything seemed to fall at once, all of the reality of the situation. They weren’t going to defeat this thing and the town was going to burn. Iron Man cursed up something on the radio as his shots did nothing.

Then there was a loud crack and lightning fell down from the heavens, striking the dragon. It cried out and lashed at the nearest building. The large chunk of wall flew towards Iron Man, who made a strangled noise before blasting it out of the air.

Then Thor landed on the ground in front of the dragon, red cape flying in the hot air coming from the creature. It roared at the norse god, waves of heat visible even from Hawkeye’s vantage point.

The god just looked up at the monster, expression serious. “You, my friend, are in pain.” he said loudly. The red dragon growled in response, something in its eyes flickering for a second. Thor nodded. “Then I shall aid you.”

He began to spin his hammer, air slowly starting to move in a current around him. In a few seconds there was a great gale while both Clint and Tony were making snarky remarks about it on the radio. A white light flowed from the dragon and into the flow of the spinning hammer.

In a couple of moments it was all over. The light had vanished somewhere, dispelled by Thor’s weapon, and the dragon had regained its sanity. Iron Man made another comment and Natasha forced him to apologize for attacking the creature earlier. There was a conversation between the group and the Avengers gained some respect for it.

At one point, Clint asked what its name was. 

We won’t go into that.

Thor escorted the dragon back to its realm, leaving in a huge bang like usual. Before he left he promised to come back, saying that the person who summoned the thing was something he needed to investigate. The Avengers agreed to help as they could when the time came.

And then they were left alone. Five heroes standing in the rubble which used to be some town houses. They stood there for a moment, awkwardness hanging in the air like a bomb.

Tony Stark finally spoke up. “Can someone tell me what the hell just happened?”

“Well-”

“Did someone say ‘God help us’ or something, because one just sort of did.”

“Are you sure that wasn’t you, Stark? You seemed pretty stressed out back there.” Clint jabbed. To add to it, The Hulk gave the billionaire what looked like a pat on the head. He quickly shooed him off, waving his arms in the air.

“Not now, big guy! I’m trying to look cool!”

Barton, Rogers, and even Romanova laughed at that. Steve was glad that the atmosphere was back to normal, and now they just needed a ride back to the Stark Tower. Since they had basically ditched S.H.I.E.L.D. by coming here, the captain doubted that Fury would send someone to pick them up.

As his team continued chatting and smiling Steve stared off into the distance, looking at something far away. He wondered why this happened here of all places, the one country where they buried Him. The same country, same province, in a city just a couple of miles away from the one He was placed in. Was it all just a coincidence? Did Steve get worked up for nothing?

His eyes focused and he brought himself back to the present as people started filing into the area. Some gaped in awe at the destruction and some started heading off to their homes, most likely undamaged. Not looking for anything or anyone in particular, Steve watched the crowd of bodies.

Then there was a bark and he was snapped out of his zone. Looking at his friends, it looked like no one else noticed the sound. He searched the mass of people with his eyes to try and find where it came from. A black dog slipped through some people and ran towards the crash site. Steve was about to go after it and try to catch the animal so it wouldn’t get hurt, when he saw the person chasing after it.

It was a ghost. A man who he had thought dead for three whole years. Steve’s heart stopped and he stared at the man, thinking that he had finally snapped.

The person chasing the dog apparently saw him too and stopped in his tracks. His face turned a sickly pale, just like what Steve probably looked like at the moment, and they both locked eyes.

Phil Coulson stood across the rubble-filled clearing, very much alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I've been procrastinating aaaaa. Also this chapter was short right, yeah. It was a bit rushed. HOPEFULLY YOU LIKED IT HAAAAaa.


	6. Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve Rogers is not letting Phil get away, not this time.

Phil Coulson was in big trouble.

Captain America stared at him like he had just seen a ghost (which he had), stuck to the spot he was standing on. Play it cool, Coulson. You can slip out of this easy... right? No, probably not. Nick was going to be extremely pissed at him for getting seen.

He heard his own name being said from across the plaza. The other Avengers stuttered in their activities, slowly moving their attention to Steve. It was only going to be a couple of seconds before they looked at what he was fixing his eyes on, then Phil was going to be even more ruined. He needed to go before the others saw him, they wouldn’t believe the captain if only he saw him.

So, hoping that Levi could take care of himself, he bolted back into the crowd. The action earned a couple of curses and complaints from the people he pushed past, but he kept on running. He could hear Captain America calling out his name and had probably taken chase to him already.

Agent Coulson took a detour down a pathway between two houses, one half demolished by the dragon. He navigated between trash cans and the odd box, tipping over as many obstacles as he could.

Knowing Steve and his super soldier stamina, the things he threw behind him wouldn’t even slow the man down. Fallen over garbage cans wouldn’t even touch him most likely. He was probably faster than the agent as well and would catch up to him in no time.

Phil knew Steve wasn’t dumb, but he needed to use brain rather than brawn in this situation. It would only take a moment for the captain to figure out what he did, but every second counted in this race.

\- - -

Steve called out to Agent Coulson desperately. He couldn’t be crazy, could he? He was seeing dead men and chasing them down empty streets and alleyways. Those bins couldn’t have tipped themselves over, so maybe he wasn’t off the deep end yet. The other Avengers hadn’t seemed to see him and tried to stop the captain from running off, but it would take more than the Hulk to get him off the man’s trail now.

Three years, it had been three damn years.

He wasn’t going to let him get away.

Then he almost did when the agent took a sharp left past the alley. Steve turned from the exit to see nothing. Bare street in front of him, there was nobody there and he had seemed to disappear. Maybe he was crazy, maybe these years had been too hard on him.

But then the captain’s enhanced hearing picked up scuffling from above. He whipped his head up in time to catch Agent Coulson scrambling up a storm drain.

“Agent Coulson!” he called out, trying to coax the man down. “Please stop! I’m not going to hurt you or anything! I just-- I just want to talk... please..”

Phil seemed to hesitate for a moment, just one. That’s all the time it took to get Steve’s hopes up, maybe he would come down.He was desperate to see him, to talk to him face to face after three years and he had no clue why. It was perhaps the regrets he had in not leading the Avengers well, or maybe not signing his cards, or not being as good of a man to him as he could have. He could have been better to him, friendlier.

“You-- You’re supposed to be dead!” Steve cried out, not knowing if he was accusing the agent, himself, or the universe. “We buried you! I was there! How are you here now...?” Was he being toyed with? Was the world trying to punish him for something he did?

But just as fast as the Agent had hesitated, he had begun to climb again and the captain’s heart fell. No, no, no... he was so close. Steve didn’t dare try and climb after him, in fear of making the structure fall and endangering the man.

Then he had grabbed onto the roof ledge and hoisted himself onto it, giving Steve Rogers the perfect moment to go after him again. It took the super soldier half the time to get up but by then Phil was already running again. “I’m not letting you get away!” he shouted after him, taking off once more.

The agent was only human, he wouldn’t be able to outlast him and Steve Rogers was going to damn make sure of that.

The edge of the rooftop was getting closer and closer, and Steve thought that would give the agent pause, maybe stop him. His stomach did a flip and panic rushed to his head when Phil did the exact opposite and took a leap. In a desperate attempt, he tried to reach out and grab the man before he fell. However; the agent just barely made it onto the other building, having to grab the ledge with his hands for stability.

“Stop! Please stop! You’re going to get yourself killed! This is crazy!” he called across. The man didn’t hesitate to keep on running and Steve let out a breath of exasperation.

The jump for him was easy, and he landed with room to spare. He straightened up and took off after him again. What was he going to do when and if he caught the agent? It was painfully obvious that he wasn’t going to just give up, and with his training Steve Rogers would be in danger of being punched in the face.

Captain America needed to know- how? How was he alive and why now? Why didn’t he tell him- any of the Avengers? It had been three years, three hard years. The entire time they needed someone to glue them together, someone more human. An encouraging and stern hand to push them forward who wasn’t a part of the team. They had needed Agent Coulson and he was alive this whole time!

And then Steve was angry again. He didn’t like- no, he hated being made a fool of like this. Everyone he had cared about had died after he went into the ice, he lost everyone. The captain tried his damndest to keep the people he held close alive, and he didn’t appreciate being lead on.

Then they came to the end of the roof and there was no where for Phil to jump. The building across was too high and there was only a brick wall.

\- - -

Phil Coulson was trapped.

“All right,” Captain America raised his hands placatingly and stopped a couple of feet away. “Just take it easy, Agent Coulson. I don’t know why you’re running from me, but we can talk this out. I’m not going to hurt you, I just- want to make sure you’re okay. Stop running, please. Step away from the ledge, it’s safer over here.”

The agent was tempted, oh god he was so tempted to just give up. He wanted to stop running, he wanted to settle down for once. He didn’t want to be alone anymore.

Sometimes, he hated following orders. Sure, he had disobeyed some in his time when they became stupid or if it put his team mates in danger; however the man could say that he prided himself on the fact that he always fulfilled his duty. This moment was one of those times when he truly hated following his orders.

“Please,” Steve begged. “I just want everything to be all right, just once.”

It hurt. It really hurt not doing what the man said.

Keeping his lips shut, he back up towards the edge. Every word Steve pleaded made his chest ache and he was losing his resolution more are more. He missed being around the super heroes.

Phil even missed Tony’s sarcastic remarks, which was saying something. He missed constantly telling Agent Barton to get down from the rafters, the inside jokes about past missions with Romanova, and he missed being able to be around Steve.

Suddenly he took another step back. His foot hit the edge of the roof and he sucked in a gasp as his balance was lost and he fell.

\- - -

The Hulk was not stupid.

The Hulk had seen the Man In The Suit just as Cap did, but did not say anything. No one paid attention to Hulk when it came to these things. He had watched Cap chase him away, and the rest of team call after him confused. Even when others had not seen The Suit, Hulk had. He was not dumb.

It was not easy for Hulk to get away from others when he was so big, but he just growled at them and they did not bother him. Metal Man followed him for a distance, talking a lot. Hulk did not like talking so much, he used actions. Like smashing.

Then cupid called Metal Man away and he left. Hulk did not care.

He knew The Suit. The Suit was a small man that Banner was sad about. Tony and the rest of team were also sad when he was talked about, but no one liked to talk about him. One day Stark talked about The Suit, but only once. He sounded like a person Hulk would like. He did not get scared from puny men or puny gods, even though he was weak like Banner.

The Suit was supposed to be dead.

Banner saw The Suit too, and he told Hulk to go after him. Hulk didn’t listen to him all the time, not even now. He did this because he wanted to, not because he was told to.

Then Hulk smelled something bad in the air. Smelled anxiety and stress. He went faster and jumped to where The Suit and Cap were. They stood on top of a tall building and the Suit looked like he was going to fall. He could not survive a fall like that, he was not strong like Hulk.

Banner told Hulk before that The Suit dying was partly their fault too. He didn’t like that feeling. Hulk didn’t want to hurt people. He showed the puny god how much he liked it when bad guys hurt the people he cared for. 

Hulk didn’t do anything. He watched The Suit and Cap on the roof. Nothing bad was happening, but he could still smell the stress in the air.

Then The Suit fell and Hulk didn’t think. He wouldn’t let The Suit die again. He jumped without hesitation and flew for him. Hulk caught him mid air and landed on the ground with a loud thump.

He held the small man in his arms, taking a moment to make sure he was feeling him there and this wasn’t a trick. Hulk looked at The Suit, who stared right back at him. He didn’t look scared, only surprised. There was a flash in his expression that looked like he was going to run again.

Hulk grunted at him and he raised his eyebrows. When it became clear that Hulk was not going to let go of the dead man, he relaxed and gave a big sigh of defeat. Cap called from above and praised his catch of The Suit. He said he was going to come down.

Then it was just Suit and the Hulk.

“Not dead.” he grunted.

The Suit huffed and smiled. Hulk smiled too because he was alive.

“Yeah,” Suit grinned, tired. “not dead.”

\- - -

The next few hours consisted of The Avengers each getting their chance to rant to Phil while he was being held in a death grip by the Hulk. The entire time, if anyone wanted to give the agent a hug (only Black Widow) they would also have to deal with the huge green arms holding him. The Hulk was somehow convinced that if he let go Agent Coulson would try to run away again.

The team mostly just yelled at the agent, demanding answers. He wouldn’t give it to them and they would have to settle for nothing, pouting in the corner of the room in Iron Man’s case. The Black Widow was fairly calm during the whole ordeal, but she had a glimmer in her eyes that said ‘I’m glad you’re alive’.

Hawkeye tried to guilt trip him about Budapest and Canberra, wanting to get some kind of reaction or answers from Phil. However his efforts were fruitless and he settled with a very loud “Don’t do it again!”

Iron Man whined and actually tried to bribe him, but the man had nothing of it. So he just called him a couple of names (earning him a punch from Hawkeye and a look from Widow) and sat on the couch like a toddler who didn’t get what he wanted.

Captain America didn’t do anything. He watched the whole event unfold and felt like an outsider. He had no clue how to approach the dead man, he had been gone for three years! Three years he thought he was dead and he now had no clue what to do.

Steve remembered nights when he lay awake, thinking of things he would do if he ever got to see him again. He would give him back the cards.... but they were buried with the body now. He would... he would...

He didn’t know.

So, feeling alone and confused, Steve Rogers slipped out of the room. No one seemed to notice as he left and went to his own room in the Avengers Tower. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he flopped onto the bed and moaned into the pillows. What was wrong with him?

He rolled onto his side and took a small sketchbook out from the bedside drawer. Flipping through the pages, his expression was sad. There were old, sketchy drawing of Phil Coulson. They were scenes and things the captain had seen before the agent had died. In one he was pointing and directing some staff on the helicarrier, in another he was just walking with an armful of binders and folders.

Steve had never seen enough of the man to draw him in a lot of poses, but some sketches were from his imagination. They were worse in quality, but when he drew these he was at a low point.

If earlier he had bothered to look at Phil, he would see that his exit was not unnoticed.

\- - -

Levi lay in the living room of the Avengers tower, wary and careful. This placed smelled strange and he just wanted to return home. He didn’t like it here. The apartment was unprotected without him, and his owner would be coming home tomorrow. He needed to be there, not here.

Earlier, back at the site in Canada, he had run to the clearing where the dragon had once been. The dog navigated through rubble and obstacles until he was sniffing the ground at the centre. It smelled like magic... magic and brimstone. Levi raised his hackles at the scent and paced around the spot.

The magic was old, ancient even, however is was not strong. Most likely a simple spell to open a door or bridge a gateway. He could tell by the strength of the smell. It was still very fresh, but there were only whispers of it- revealing the weakness of the spell.

Levi remembered the smell, though it had been a long time since he had last been around it. A long, long, long time indeed. It reminded him of a different life before his new home, before the old woman and simple days protecting the house. A more painful time.

But those days were far behind him, he had only wanted a view and survey of the scene here. Now he was done, though his heart ached with the past, and he turned around to run back to his caretaker. They needed to get back to the apartment.

Except he was gone.

Levi looked around the crowd of people, confused. Where had be gone? Did he get eaten up by the mass of humans? He trotted to the group and managed to squeeze into a gap, sniffing the ground for any signs of his temporary caregiver. His smell was here, but lead off to the way they came from. It was like he left in a hurry.

He had wandered the streets for a time, coming back to the plaza as much as he could just to double and triple check that He wasn’t there. Finally, after a while, there was another commotion in the square. Levi felt relieved, he didn’t want to be left behind again-- never again. The fleeting moments of being alone had made him almost panic and flashes of pain and cold resurfaced. He didn’t want to be alone again, never again. He wanted to be with the old woman forever and ever.

In the clearing was the super hero team once more, but this time his caregiver was there. They were crowded around the man, shouting or talking to him in one way or another. A big green giant was holding him as they boarded a flying aircraft. Wait-- they were going to leave Levi behind! He barked, they couldn’t do that! Sure, he didn’t care much for the man, not as much as the old woman, but he needed him at the moment. The man squirmed against the giant’s hold and shouted something, which was seemingly ignored by the others. Just as the door was closing, Levi panicked and ran for it. The caretaker shouted again, this time louder.

“WAIT! I need to take my dog!” he cried. The door stopped and Levi whined from outside the contraption.

Now he was here, and he still didn’t like the smell. It smelled like superheroes and the faintest magic, like that thunder man had been here before. Judging from the way he acted around the others living here, the dog guessed he had.

The place reeked of... something. He didn’t like it, the scents of any of these people. Levi needed to grab his caretaker and get back home soon, right now preferably. The apartment was unprotected and he was getting anxious. The green one, who had turned back into a man but still had the same smell, said that he needed a walk. No, he did not need a walk, he needed to go home.

After a long time, his caretaker was finally given free roam of the tower they were stuck in. It seems that the heroes here were smart enough to prepare for him running away. The man came to Levi and scratched him behind the ears, reassuring him that he would get the dog home soon. He got out a small device from his pocket and started touching it. In a moment he was talking to it, which Levi had seen Ruth do many times with another object.

The man was referring to the device as ‘Agent Sitwell’, it seemed, and he kept on saying his owner’s name. Though his expression turned grim after a few moments. His scent became full of shame and Levi’s hackles raised. He didn’t like this feeling, what was happening? The man looked at the dog for a second and then went back to the thing in his hand.

After he finished talking, he put the device back into his jacket and leaned on the counter. The man let out a sigh, filled with something Levi couldn’t place, and then finally turned back to him.

Coulson squatted in front of Levi and pat his head. “Sorry, buddy,” he breathed quietly.

“You’re going to have to stay here for a while.”

Levi wondered why Ruth could not just pick him up from here.


	7. Regrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil visits Steve on the roof and then has nightmares.

_‘It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. It’s like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark and thinking there’s one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down through the air and there’s a sickly moment of dark surprise.’_

Steve sat on the roof of the Avengers tower. Below him was the bright city, glowing as a beacon even in the dark of night. Millions of windows sprinkled with colourful signs, painting the mural which was the city at night. He liked to come out here during the dark when he needed time to think- and boy did he need that right now. He had just chased a dead man through the streets and brought him home.

Now what?

He felt so-- torn. Should he be happy? Should he be mad at the fact that him and Fury had lied to them? Three years, three years in mourning. Everyone had mourned, everyone had tip-toed around the subject that was Phil Coulson. Now he was back and alive.

Steve was confused.

Then someone stepped onto the roof, door slamming behind them. The gravel crunched underneath their shoes and Captain Rogers didn’t turn around, even when the smell of rich coffee hit his nose.

(Okay, maybe he did then.)

Phil sat on the ledge beside him and set down the two mugs. The steam wafted into the cool night air and carried out over the city. He didn’t say anything as he rested beside the captain, legs in a criss-cross position. For a couple of moments there was only silence and the sound of the bustling and alive city below them. Car engines and the occasional horn decorated the air, mixed with the constant chatter of people down in the ground. There was a mutual understanding of wanting to be up here for the sake of peace and time to think.

Steve took his coffee and he could almost hear the agent smile. At the signal, Phil also picked up his own mug and blew on the piping hot liquid. They both took a sip (the other man drinking longer) and Steve looked at his drink in surprise. He hadn’t had good coffee in a while, even with the fancy cappuccino maker sitting in the kitchen. He glanced at the agent, who was holding his mug with both of his hands and looking out over the view.

“Isn’t it a bit late for coffee?” Steve asked, smiling politely. It was nice- he decided- to have Phil here. Like the team was missing a member for the longest time and they didn’t know it until he came back.

“If you don’t want it...”

“I didn’t say that.”

Phil laughed at his interruption and Steve’s smile turned into a more honest one- more than a polite gesture. He had never gotten the chance to hear his laugh, which was probably thanks to his job. It was hearty and mellow at the same time.

“I’m sorry for running away,” he said, cutting off the captain’s train of thought. His face was more serious now, and he was staring out into the night. “and I’m sorry I never came back.”

Steve looked at him, knees pulled up to his chest and warm mug cupped in his hands. He understood why he had to do what he did, yet he didn’t interrupt the agent.

“I wanted to, you know. The only things I could ever hear about The Avengers were things from the news- and that’s never a reliable source is it?” Phil huffed. “I saw that you left early- and I’m sorry if I did anything to make you distrust me. I would distrust me too.”

The agent stood up and Steve watched him do so, about to protest him leaving. “Your opinion... matters a lot to me. I hope that you can forgive me.”

“Phil- wait--”

But he had already gone. The door clicked behind the agent and Steve was alone once more. Somehow, the sounds of the city weren’t as calming or peaceful anymore. He had a lot to think about, and the hustle and bustle down below just reminded him that the world continued on turning as he did so.

\- - -

_‘If you have ever lost someone very important to you, then you already know how it feels, and if you haven’t, you cannot possibly imagine it.’_

Phil guessed that he deserved it. He slumped back against the wall and slid to the ground, knees pulled up. His head was lowered and he exhaled deeply through his nose. All of that hiding for years and years, he guessed that karma was waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He just wished that he had been the one to be punished instead.

Ruth was dead. He got the phone call from Agent Sitwell just under two hours ago.

What was he going to do? He felt like it was all his fault, even though he wasn’t even at the scene. There was nothing he could have done. She took a vacation at the wrong place and the wrong time, and now she was gone. Levi was all alone. Agent Coulson buried his head in his hands just thinking about it. What was going to happen to the dog?

He was determined that he wasn’t going to go to a shelter and that he was the only person capable of caring for him, but it still felt wrong. All of this happening on the same day, it was too... strange. All of the S.H.I.E.L.D. bases across the world, including the Helicarrier, had been possessed by something. On the same day that a dragon had appeared right in the town where Phil had been living for three years, which lead to this being the one day he got caught by one of The Avengers. It all seemed too coincidental.

Yet time always catches up with you, Phil figured it was his time. He couldn’t hide forever, and now someone had been ripped from the Earth because of it. He didn’t know how, but it must have been his fault. If it wasn’t, why did he feel so guilty?

Agent Coulson wondered if he was ever going to tell Levi. Would the dog even understand? He knew that he was smart but was it possible?

What was he going to tell the pilot?

He was down in the Quinjet bay right now, probably fixing up the plane from its last flight. He remembered seeing him on the way here, he was green in a rookie sense but had worked here for a couple of years. He still have that oblivious bliss that The Avengers had come straight out of a comic book, that he was working for celebrities. He was the best there was at what he did, which was flying. S.H.I.E.L.D. had never met such a fine pilot. They didn’t have much to teach him when he joined. He climbed the ranks faster than a man with a bottomless wallet.

The pilot was a good kid.

Phil didn’t know if it was coincidence that his neighbour was the boy's grandmother, but it didn’t matter. He was going to need to break it to him sometime soon. He was strong and loyal, he would make it through.

The agent always hated breaking the news.

He decided to sleep on it.

\- - -

_‘Tears are curious things, for like earthquakes or puppet shows they can occur at any time, without any warning and without any good reason.’_

Phil Coulson was drowning. There was water all around him and he couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down. He kicked and tried to swim but he didn’t go anywhere- there was no where to go, just miles and miles of empty water without a bottom. His body was rushed with a sudden burst of adrenaline and his mind began to run. How was he going to escape this time? How would he once again fool death?

His lungs began to burn and his eyes stung from the water. The agent frantically turned this way and that, looking for something- anything. There wasn’t any fish, garbage, pollution, nothing floating around the liquid prison he was trapped in. With each second the world darkened and threatened to swallow him whole, he needed to breathe.

His chest was in pain as he began to swim towards what might be up. There were no lights to guide him in any direction, just endless sea. It felt like he would burst if he didn’t get a gulp of air right now.

Finally, his head felt a sharp pain and he opened his mouth- last lungful of air disappearing and floating in the opposite direction in which he swam. Water filled his throat and respiratory system, causing Phil to choke and panic.

The edges of his vision darkened and his oxygen-starved body sank downwards in the last seconds of his consciousness.

Then Agent Coulson woke up.

He bolted into a sitting position in his bed, covered in a cold sweat. He breathed heavily, gasping as if he hadn’t been able to in years. After a moment, he brought his knees up to his chest and rested his head in his hands.

Phil wondered if the frequent nightmares of him dying over and over again was some sort of symbolism. He had never gotten them before when he was living in Canada and pretending he was dead, why now? Was it because he was visiting his past’s ghosts? Was it because he knew he shouldn’t have survived that attack?

Was it because now, more than ever, Agent Coulson didn’t want to die ever again?

Sleep was overrated anyways.

\- - -

_‘Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like.’_

It was 1AM and the pilot couldn’t sleep. He sat in the passenger seat of the Quinjet, staring up at the nets and ropes tethering objects to the ceiling. There were crates and bags filled with supplies and empty, each had its purpose. There were multiple first aid kits laying around the cabin as well, even though some of the more snarky Avengers had bugged him about it.

They shut up when it saved their life later.

The pilot had been working with them for just over a year now, though he wasn’t usually noticed. Tony Stark had built a spare room for whoever down here, but never really checked to see if someone was living in it. He wondered if he even knew he slept here. Sure, he never came up for breakfast and spent most of his time in the hanger, but it was always just disappointing whenever Iron Man said “When did we get a pilot?”

There were small cartons of chinese takeout littering his desk and area in the workshop, but he cleaned up every Thursday so no one could say he was a slob. No posters or mementos decorated his workspace save one picture that was pinned to the cork board on the wall. It wasn’t taken very well, but you could make out two people in the photo.

It was his nanna, Ruth, hugging her dog, Levi, at their apartment in Canada.

The picture had been sent to him last year, and of course he had hung it up. He didn’t have any photos of his parents nor girlfriends, mostly because he didn’t have any. The pilot was adopted at a young age by the woman he called his nanna. As a teenager he insisted on calling her his ‘mom’, but she would have none of it. The old woman said she would rather have grandkids at her age then just kids.

His nanna was the only family he had, and the pilot was the only family she had. They both had the dog, but he was more than family to her. He never got to visit, but Levi always showed affection towards him. He remembered once talking to the animal in the middle of the night as it laid at his sleeping grandmother’s feet. He sat in the living room, recalling memories of his childhood with the woman and saying that he was a very lucky dog to have her.

After the pilot mentioned that he was adopted, Levi seemed to show more pity towards him. It made him wonder if dogs really couldn’t understand english.

He sat in the Quinjet, still in his pyjamas, thinking about the phone call he had gotten from Director Fury.

In his hand was a small photo that usually hung on the cork backboard by his desk. It depicted an old woman and a black dog. She was smiling and hugging it in front of a red apartment building.

The pilot shook quietly in the aircraft, wrists and face wet from salty tears streaming down it and failed attempts to wipe them away. He hiccupped and sobbed silent enough so that no one but the AI could hear.

_‘The sad truth is the truth is sad.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemony Snicket quotes Lemony Snicket quotes Lemony Snicket quotes.


	8. Comfort

“Stark. I am not going out there.”

“Yes you are. Consider it a celebration that you’re alive. A celebration that includes every single one of the rich people I invited and a couple of cameras and reporters.”

“You know I dislike parties.”

“That’s not true. Fine. Have it your way. Consider it a punishment for being dead for three years. How about that?”

“Just because I am wearing this stuffy tuxedo that Ms. Potts forced me into does not mean I’m not carrying my taser with me.”

“The buffet is over there, I hope you choke on a shrimp you party-pooper.”

“Thank you.”

Phil walked away from the curtains and straight towards the food. He was never one to make a beeline to the buffet at things like this, but it was the only place he was safe for now. Tony Stark had come up with the great idea of introducing Phil to the world at one of his fundraisers. 

Like hell he was going to do that. It had been two weeks at the Avengers tower and he was already sick of human contact. Not really. He just didn’t want to do this. It wasn’t too soon, it wouldn’t expose him to any more villains than normal, he just did not want to do it. Couldn’t a man live his life behind the stage curtains instead of out in the limelight?

Phil Coulson made a point of not eating the shrimp.

Instead he served himself a cup of punch and gave the rest of the snacks a once-over. There was a cake (for later in the evening), assorted baked goods, cookies, fruit, vegetables and dip, and shrimp. Pretty cheap for a Stark party, to be honest, but Bruce must have been getting to the millionaire in some way. The doctor was always a finicky spender.

Phil pondered just leaving the entire event. He was never one for public displays like this, plus no one would notice if he left. He wasn’t an Avenger, he was just a man in a suit. He might get kicked in the ass from one of the team later but at the moment he didn’t care.

He could hear the distant cheering of the crowd as Tony Stark emerged from behind the curtains, no doubt flaunting his money in some embarrassing way. Phil sighed and polished off his drink, preparing himself to leave the party. This night was going to go wrong or drunk in some way and the agent didn’t want any part of it. He placed his drink on the table and turned around to find himself face-to-face with Steve Rogers.

His expression hid his surprise. Phil gave him a plain look and raised an eyebrow. “Good evening, Steve.”

“Hey, Phil. Leaving so soon?” Steve smiled brightly.

The agent was just about to come up with some white lie and say ‘no’. Maybe say he was going to head off to the washrooms, or check up on another part of the attraction. His mind ran with thoughts and possible excuses.

“I-”

“Good. Let’s get out of here.” Steve cut him off before he could say anything. The captain grabbed the baffled agent’s wrist and dragged him towards the exit. He didn’t protest as he was basically ripped from the party and taken outside into the cool night.

Steve only stopped walking when they had walked a good distance away from the recreational centre. The two of them stood under a streetlight on the sidewalk, each wearing a tuxedo. The captain had a small american flag pin on his lapel, but otherwise they matched.

For a moment they just looked at the lit up building in the distance. They could hear the blasting music from where they were, though it was somewhat quieter. Only a handful of stars could be seen from where they stood, the light pollution making it difficult.

After a moment, both of the realized that Steve was still holding Phil’s wrist. Steve made a strangled noise while Phil coughed (more like choked) and they both quickly ripped their hands away from each other.

“Sorry about that,” Steve laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just really needed to get out of there. I don’t really know what I was thinking... I guess I wasn’t thinking at all.”

Phil smiled. It wasn’t one of those business-smiles, or the polite-smiles that he used when dealing with agents or people higher ranked than him. It was a warm and genuine one. Steve stopped rambling and the hand on his neck froze.

“Do you want to go get hamburgers in tuxedos, Steve? I know a good place a couple of blocks away.” he asked.

“You have no idea.” Steve beamed and Phil couldn’t help but return it.

\- - -

Captain America and Agent Coulson sat in the parking lot of a mom ‘n pop shop, eating their burgers and laughing in tuxedos. It was a strange sight, two grown men in fancy clothing talking about stupid things and eating greasy food. But it was late at night, and the only company they had was the occasional car whooshing past on the street. The people inside the diner were cleaning up, and the light from the windows accompanied by the streetlights was a good enough source for the two.

“It didn’t even end there!”

“Oh god, you’re kidding!”

“I wish! Hahaha! So after Tony put salt in Clint’s coffee instead of sugar, he put lemon juice in his!”

“Hahahaha! Oh no!”

“What was even worse, was that Bruce was having one of those ‘sleepy mornings’ after a fight the last day. You know, when he walks around in a daze and doesn’t really know what he’s doing?”

“Yes.”

“You know how him and Tony share almost everything?”

“Yes- oh no!”

“Haha! Yeah! Before Tony could take a sip of his coffee, Bruce snatched it from him and drank it! I’ll just say that after that, no one touched anyone else’s drinks.”

“So that’s what the ruckus was about last summer. The papers said it was a training exercise gone wrong!”

“Is that what Fury put in? He couldn’t be farther from the truth!”

“Haha! What else happened while I was gone?”

“Barton and Romanova got together ‘officially’.”

“Finally. You wouldn’t believe how many bets the agents made each month to see when that would happen. Tell me all about it, that’s an order.”

“Psh. Yes, ‘sir’. Well, it all started after Thor came back down for around six months a while ago...”

\- - -

It was early the next morning when Phil got up from bed. Like it had been for the past weeks, it was difficult to wake up in a different place. He continued to think he was going to open his eyes to the homey apartment he had lived in for the last three years. Each morning he was proven wrong. The only companion he had who was the last piece of his past life was Levi.

The black dog’s ears perked up when he noticed that the agent had gotten up from bed. He didn’t do anything a normal dog would do like stand up and greet him in a happy-dog fashion, panting and such. Levi was a more calm dog, Phil found. He preferred to sleep in his room, but whenever he could the dog would make his way down to the Quinjet bay to where the pilot was.

The pilot hadn’t talked to any of the Avengers since the incident a couple of weeks ago, and Phil couldn’t blame him. He never came up much anyways, but the team had mentioned several times that it was strange not having him suddenly appear like a ghost. Tony had said that he was acting more like him, cooping himself up in the hanger. When the agent had gone down to talk to him about his grandmother, he said that he already knew. He told him that he didn’t want Coulson to say it around Levi, even if he was ‘just a dog’. Levi’s only family, though he had the pilot, was the old woman.

So Agent Coulson had respected his wishes. He got dressed in more casual wear and glanced at the clock. 6AM. That would be early enough to do what he wanted to. He slipped into a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D. issue, grey sweatpants and a navy t-shirt. When he got to the bathroom, he noticed that his contacts had expired. He cursed quietly to himself and rummaged through the medicine cabinet until he found the old, black, clunky things. They were extremely nerdy-looking and he preferred to wear them only in dire situations. He wrote a small note for himself and stuck it to the mirror before heading downstairs.

Levi padded through the door before Phil and trotted towards the elevator. The agent joined him and together they headed down to the main floor of the Avengers tower. The dog exited before him once more and headed towards the living room while he went to the kitchen. To Coulson’s surprise, someone was already awake.

“Phil?” Steve looked at him quizzically. “What are you doing up at this time of the morning?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” he shrugged casually. Phil walked towards the coffee maker and helped himself to a cuppa.

“You know I don’t need that much sleep,” the captain took a drink of his own coffee. “Plus, it’s a bit more lonely in my floor by myself.”

The agent nodded. He understood that feeling. Each team member got their own floor, which was a nice gesture and proved to be good in the customization department, but it got quiet fast. “I was thinking of making breakfast for everyone. You know, just a little something to say ‘I’m sorry’ from hiding away for three years, plus ditching the event last night.”

“You don’t need to say sorry for anything, Phil.” Steve put a hand on the agent’s shoulder. “We all understand that you had to do what you did, even if it does seem a bit too long. Three years is just-” He coughs and stops himself from finishing.

“Anyways,” he continued. “I also skipped out on the thing yesterday, so I might as well help you make that apology breakfast.”

Phil chuckled lightly, earning a smile from Steve.

The two of them started cooking then. The agent put the captain in charge of making the pancakes, while he started the bacon and scrambled eggs. Steve took out all of the ingredients, saying he didn’t need a cookbook because he learned how to make the best from his mother back in the day. Coulson joked about ‘canadian bacon’ and they both laughed. They poked a bit more at that subject before moving on, Steve mixing the batter and Phil handling the sizzling meat on the pan.

They stayed like that for a time, one of them asking for a tool or ingredient every once in awhile. Yet as Phil had started to drift into his own world, Steve spoke up and cut through the silence.

“Do you cook much?”

It was a simple question, and yet it was just a bit personal. Like a prod or an encouragement to try and get a story to be told. Phil tried not to think of it as anything else other than small talk.

“In Canada, I cooked for myself all the time. At first, I thought that I wouldn’t be spending too much time there. Maybe I would be released after a couple of months at most. But as time went on, I realized that I was... basically starting a new life. I cleaned the apartment kitchen, got some new plates and cutlery, stocked my fridge, so on and so forth. I already knew how to cook, but I picked up some more skills and recipes along the way.”

Phil didn’t look up from his task of frying the bacon. He still didn’t when he switched the pan for another and broke an egg over it. If he didn’t, he would see that Steve was watching him closely. Studying him. Taking in small details, such as the light laugh lines around his mouth and eyes. The way his eyes crinkled as he thought of the past, and the way he licked his lips as the strong aroma of cooked eggs hit his nose.

“What did you do? Did you have a job?”

Phil was only somewhat aware of the nagging in the back of his head. People didn’t ask him things unless they had an ulterior motive, what was Steve’s? Wait- no! That was preposterous. Steve wouldn’t have any dark motives for asking him about the past three years. He had the right to. It was the least that Phil owed him.

“I didn’t need to get a job since I was technically undercover and still got a monthly paycheck from S.H.I.E.L.D., but I did anyways. It was more of a volunteer thing. I spent the day volunteering at the library, and during weekends I would sometimes go to the food bank to help. I know it sounds cheesy and ‘too good to be true’, but I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. for a reason and that was to help people. Posing as some average joe wasn’t doing anyone, even myself, any good. Though for a while, I did work undercover as a principal at a school. It was... interesting. Maybe I’ll tell you about it later.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“What I have always done.” Phil answered without hesitation. This time, he looked at Steve and caught the man staring at him with a blank look. The utter out-of-character-ness of the expression caught him off guard and his emotionless mask cracked just a bit. Steve realized that Phil had found him studying the agent, and he quickly went back to mixing the batter.

For some reason, the agent felt bitter at that. Why was he staring at him? The dark notion of ulterior motives resurfaced and his stomach did a flip. He didn’t feel as hungry any more.

“I think that the batter is mixed enough, Captain.” Phil said coldly. Steve opened and closed his mouth before shutting up and giving up. He moved in beside Coulson and poured the pancake mix into another pan. In a second, the strong smell wafted upwards and outwards, making the agent relax just a bit more. Though it was a bit strange standing next to the captain, shoulder brushing the bigger man’s arm.

“Are you going to stay?” Steve asked, quieter and more delicate.

Phil paused, keeping the silence. He already knew the answer, and he was sure that the other man did as well.

“Yes.”

“Good.” The captain smiled and looked up, as if thanking some higher being up there. Then he returned his gaze to the pancakes, turning it over. “I don’t think anyone would let you leave anyways. Tony would most likely kidnap you in this tower, Clint would stalk you, I don’t even want to know what Natasha would do, and I don’t think S.H.I.E.L.D. would even let you after Bruce talked to them.”

Phil hummed in amusement. He scraped the eggs onto a plate and the bacon onto a larger one for people to take their own share from. As he did so, his smile faded a tad and he thought about something.

“What about you?” he asked.

Steve paused, scooping one of the pancakes onto a platter and pouring more batter. “... What?”

“What would you do?”

There was a moment of silence as they both did their separate tasks. Neither said anything and Phil was plenty patient. He could wait all day for the answer.

“I wouldn’t let you leave.”

That was all he said. They were both quiet until the others came down for the food a while later.

\- - -

It had been a long time since Phil Coulson watched Steve Rogers sleep. It was late at night and the only light in the room was that of the television. Steve sat slumped in a chair across the room from Phil, fast asleep. In his lap was his sketchbook, which he had been mulling over for the past two hours as the agent busied himself with his paperwork. Now it was closed and resting on his thigh, along with a pencil tucked behind his ear and another one in between his fingers.

Coulson reached over to the television remote and muted it, quietly placing it back on the coffee table. For a moment, he just watched him breathe in and out deeply, a light snore only audible every once in awhile. His dirty blonde hair was messed up too.

Phil slowly and carefully removed the papers and binders from his own lap. He placed them on the spot on the couch beside him, making sure not to cause the furniture to creak as he got up.

The agent silently removed the pencil from behind Steve’s ear and slipped the second out from his hand. He placed them on the coffee table and fixed his hair before going for the sketchbook. Just before he did, the captain mumbled in his sleep and shifted, earning a hard flinch from Phil. The book was knocked from his lap and landed open on the floor.

He let out a sigh of relief when Steve didn’t wake up, and ignored the object on the floor as he covered the larger man with a blanket. Just as he finished tucking him in, his eyes wandered to the book once more. Hesitantly, he picked it up and instead of putting it away with the rest of the pencils he sat down with it.

It was open to a page with a sketch on it, and Phil examined it with a frown. 

The drawing was of him.

In the sketch, Phil was cooking and talking. In fact, it reminded him of that morning. He wouldn’t be surprised if that was what it was. He wore an apron around his waist, and you could see the laugh lines around his mouth and eyes. They were usually something that Phil was self-conscious of, but in this drawing he looked younger.

He quickly turned the page, determined to find something else to look at in there. Yet what he found was another drawing of him. He was standing beside the punch bowl at a party, clad in a fancy tuxedo and holding a glass like James Bond. Phil blushes hard at the image and turned the page once more.

This time, the picture was of him laughing. Beside him was Tony on his right and Clint on his left. One was jabbing him in the side and both of them were also laughing. Yet the image focused on the agent in the middle. His eyes were closed and you could see his wide, open smile.

Phil put the small sketchbook down on the coffee table and left the room, covering his mouth and trying to hide his bright red face. He took his papers with him and left the book open on the one drawing.

Phil needed time to think. Alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow that took- like- two weeks to write. I've been hit by a horrifying case of WRITER'S BLOCK. But I promise that the end is near and the rest of the fic is pretty much sewn up. I just need to write it, haha.
> 
> LAZINESS, GO AWAY!!!


	9. It all comes crashing down

Phil took time to think all right. He took an entire week. A whole week of avoiding Steve Rogers like the plague, staying out of his quarters and the main floor of the Avengers tower. Thank the gods that they didn’t have any missions that week, because then the agent would have had no choice but to speak with him.

There were close moments, when they saw each other in the hallways or when Phil had to walk past the living room to get out of the building. Each time he would rather turn around quickly or storm his way past like a man on a mission. At first, the captain called after him to tried to catch up. But after awhile he gave up and the only thing his avoidance got out of him was a sad face. The other Avengers noticed, and they would look between the two each rare time that they were caught in the same room, but they didn’t say a word.

It was after seven days when Thor came back.

It distracted Phil from his goal of steering clear from Steve for a time. The God of Thunder was overjoyed to see the agent, showing it by grabbing him in a lung-crushing embrace and swinging him around. It took fifteen minutes for the Avengers to convince Thor to finally let him go. When he did, everyone checked the agent for injuries, but started laughing when they realized that his shaking was from laughter.

It was another couple of hours before Phil was allowed to leave, and even then he was stopped. It was in the hallway before the elevator where the his wrist was grabbed by Steve’s hand.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” The captain gave him a serious look.

“I won’t lie.”

“I know why.”

Phil cringed a bit at that, but he didn’t make any move to pull away. In fact, he stayed perfectly still as Steve continued to hold his wrist with a grip like no other. It was desperate, as if the agent was going to disappear if he let go. Like he was going to vanish into thin air, never to be seen again for three years. The thought made his stomach do a backflip.

“I know you saw... the drawings.” Steve said calmly, hesitating on the last words. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable or annoyed. If you want, I’ll stop. I just- I can explain.”

“Then explain.”

Explain why it made Phil so filled with hope when he saw those images. Explain why he felt so happy and sad at the same time whenever he saw Steve’s face. Explain why he never wanted to leave again so long as Steve was here.

He needed to know these things, because he didn’t know himself.

“Well, you see, uhm. I like to draw everyone as you know- and you’ve been gone for so long. I just figured that I owed you some sketches, right? And you-- you have this expression that I can’t seem to capture without a reference. It’s like when you are right here but you’re looking at something far, far away. There are so many expressions that you can say with just your eyes and it’s fascinating. You can smile without moving a muscle and when you are focused on your work you have this... I don’t know. Deep look to your face. I don’t know how to explain it.”

There was a long moment of silence. Phil didn’t know what he expected, and he didn’t know what Steve wanted him to say. For once in a very long time, he felt like he didn’t know anything.

“I’ll take your word for it, Cap.”

And then Phil Coulson pulled his hand away and left Steve Rogers standing in the hallway alone.

\- - -

It was in the afternoon when the two talked again. Once more, the conversation was spurred by the captain. “Phil.” he called from the kitchen. The agent had half a mind to turn around and walk right back to the elevator, and the look must have shown in his eyes because Steve pleaded to him not to run. He didn’t.

Phil walked into the kitchen, making sure the island in the middle of it separated the two. He couldn’t get too close to Steve, or else he wouldn’t be accountable for his actions.

For the past weeks being here, Phil had thought and pondered and wondered and came to a very hard and very real conclusion. He was in love with Steve Rogers. He had been for years.

Turns out that being away from the one you love doesn’t really affect the strength of it. What made it worse was the time they had spent together after those years apart. Cooking, laughing, or just the quiet times in which they could enjoy the other’s company. It had all sunk in.

Phil should have seen it coming a mile away. He had been in love with the man before he even met him. It was one of those crushes you get on a fictional character or a celebrity, but different. He remembered as a child being filled to the brim with excitement from having gotten a hold of the magazine article revealing Captain America’s personal life. His real name, his origins, just him. He was no longer just a favourite superhero or a loved character, he was a real life person.

Sure, it was easy to shove the feelings down and play it as a ‘typical fanboy crush’, but it never was that. One can only fool themselves for so long. The fact that he actually spent time bonding with him was even worse. Now he was cornered like a rat in a trap, no where to go. He couldn’t run and he couldn’t hide from the man or his emotions and now it was all catching up with him.

“Do you need something, Cap-”

“Stop.” Phil froze. Steve was giving him a hard look. “Stop... reverting back to calling me that. Captain, Cap, Captain Rogers, we had gotten past all of that. Why are you-- why are we going backwards? Should I just call you Agent or Coulson again? I- I don’t want to!”

Steve sounded hurt and just a tad desperate, like he was trying to get a point across and wasn’t able to form the correct words. It made Phil’s gut seize up.

“I said sorry for drawing you, and I’ll do so again if it makes things go back to normal. If- if I did something wrong or if I offended you then I’m sorry. I’m sorry, just-- please. I only want things back to the way they were. I don’t want to lose a friend because of some stupid, stupid things I did.”

Phil still didn’t say anything. He still didn’t know what to say. If he opened his mouth then he was going to blurt something out and make sure that things never went ‘back to normal’ again. He was going to say something dumb like ‘I love you’ or ‘Can’t you see I don’t want to be friends?’. So he continued to keep his mouth shut.

“I won’t make excuses anymore. I didn’t draw you just because you’ve been gone for three years, or just because of those expressions that I can never seem to catch on paper. Not just because of those things. I draw you because of the things we’ve done these past weeks, they have been the most fun I have had in a long time. The team was never right without you, and now that you’re back we I--- the Avengers won’t be able to function without you once more. You’re the one thing, the one rock we can all hold onto. What... what I’m trying to say is...”

Steve was cut off by a loud and deep bark. Both of the men jumped in surprise and Phil quickly spun around to check on Levi.

The dog was posted by the window, nose pressed against the glass and hackles raised. His sights were locked on something in the distance, something that the agent couldn’t see. For just a second, he wondered if Levi was just being paranoid or barking over nothing. Maybe it was something he smelled, or the magic that Thor was giving off. Phil had heard that animals reacted to him.

Yet the thought was quickly cut down by something that Coulson knew to be true. He had learned it throughout his three years knowing the dog and his owner.

“Phil... I-” Steve began to say again, sounding determined to finally get out what he wanted to get across.

“Levi never barks.” Agent Coulson said in a cold and hard tone. “He never barks at anything.”

The barks turn into a low and sinister growl. Steve stiffens and Phil slowly walks towards the animal at the glass. Hands outstretched in an inviting manner, he tries to talk to Levi.

“Levi, what’s wrong? Is there a stranger outside? We are twenty stories high, what are you looking at...?”

“Phil... be careful...”

“That’s enough, Levi. Come here-”

Then the alarms went off. There was an ear piercing siren that went through the entire building, making the dog yelp and both of the men cover their ears. A sense of panic washed over Agent Coulson and he quickly moved forward to grab Levi. “What is happening?” He shouted over the screaming alarm, hoping that JARVIS would hear him.

“My systems have been been been breached, Agent Coulson.” The computer repeated words like a broken record, solidifying the impending sense of doom. “I am no no longer in control of the tower tower.”

There was a rumble and a roar. Two explosions rang out and the Quinjet could be heard taking off. Suddenly the card in Captain America’s pocket vibrated and he whipped it out, already knowing what it was going to say.

“Avengers, assemble!” Iron Man ordered in a fuzzy voice. In a second, the card shorted out and the screen went black. Not a good sign.

Phil and Steve looked at each other for a moment, eyes locking and a message being sent in between them. They both knew what they had to do.

“No time to get suited up, Steve.”

“My shield is in my room. Meet you on the first floor?”

“Already on it.”

\- - -

Agent Coulson didn’t bother with the elevator. Taking the stairs was safer in this situation.

‘Situation’ meaning that the tower had come alive and started attacking everyone in it.

Turning a corner, Phil yanked a fire axe from the wall and kicked the door open. Immediately, he cut short a large, fat wire that lunged towards him. Literally. The red metal of the weapon sliced through the cable and it fell to the floor. He took a moment to make sure it stopped moving for good and then continued down the hallway. As he did, lights burst and flared behind him. The agent ran faster.

Levi followed close behind, hackles raised and teeth showing. There was a sudden crack of thunder from outside, which signalled that at least Thor was doing his job. Phil heard another roar from a lower part of the building and something breaking. It seemed that even Banner had suited up.

Coulson grabbed his earpiece from the couch of his personal floor and quickly put it on. With a press of a button, radio chatter could be heard. He frowned at the apparent chaos and disorganization of the group.

[Shoot it, bird brain!]

[What the hell do you think I’m doing, tin foil? Why the hell do you have androids anyways?]

[I have copious amounts of money and a genius brain, I do whatever I want with them!]

[Friends, I believe we have more pressing matter at hand.]

[Don’t get all ‘peacemaker’ on me, Thor!]

[I am only trying to help. Do not push me, Stark.]

[It’s your tower, fix it!]

[If I could then I would! This isn’t a hacker, it’s magic or something!]

[Then my advice might be helpful in this situation.]

[I told you, I don’t need someone to tell me what to do!]

[Oh?] Phil cut in on the conversation.

[Hey, Agent! Joined the party late, didn’t you?]

[I am always on time, Stark. Would you listen to a ‘peace-keeper’ if it was me?]

[You were listening, weren’t you? I said I don’t need someone to give me orders-]

[I beg to differ. The tower is possessed by something or someone, magic or not, and there is a job that needs to be done. It doesn’t look like that is happening at all at the moment. Agent Barton, you are going to cover another roof. Somewhere high and close to here, make sure nothing gets too far away from the tower. Agent Romanova, you are going to evacuate the most endangered surrounding buildings and make sure everyone is clear. Stark, you’re going to try and take back control of the tower again.]

[I already tried. JARVIS is offline and unresponsive.]

[Then do it without him. You must have a manual override or control panel somewhere. Unless it is too dangerous to engage, you will get to it and fix the problem. Thor, since ‘magic’ was mentioned, I want you to try and dispel as much as you can. I know that Mjolnir has the power to do so.]

[Aye, but very little. She is meant for battle and only canceling smaller enchantments.]

[Good enough. If you can, I want you to track where this is coming from and cut it off at the source. Cap, are you there?]

[I am now, Phil. What do you want me to do?]

[You and I will keep the thing occupied on the main floor. Try and disable any lethal appliances or cables.]

[Got it. On my way down.]

[And Agent Andrews?]

[Who?] Iron Man interrupted on the radio. [Do we have another stalker?]

[I’m your pilot, Mr. Stark. I’ve been flying the Quinjet for over two years now.]

[What are you talking about? Your name is Pilot, isn’t it?]

[Cover the air, Andrews.]

[Yes, sir.]

[No ‘sir’ for me? I’m hurt. Why do all you S.H.I.E.L.D. agents hate me?]

[I’m sure that Agent Barton loves you, Stark.]

[No I don’t.]

[Rude.]

Phil Coulson rolled his eyes and adjusted his grip on the axe in his hands. He heard something like “Come on, Big Guy, we’re going spelunking!” and then a growl in agreement. As he swung his weapon towards the television wires that had suddenly gained a mind of their own, he heard some more smashing from the floor below him. There was the sound of Iron Man’s repulsors going off and then some complaints on the radio.

Phil whipped around just in time to see one of the cables grab a block full of knives and chuck it at him. He covered his face with his arm only to find that there was no impact. When he opened his eyes he saw Captain America in front of him.

“Am I late?” he asked, throwing his shield at the stray wire and severing it.

“Just on time, Steve.”

Levi was growling to the side, chewing on some assorted cords. At one point, before one could throw a coffee table at the two humans, he tackled the piece of furniture. His caretaker turned around when he heard the sound and quickly chopped the offender before it could recover.

The fight seemed to take forever, when really it had only been ten minutes at most. More and more wires and pipes dislodged themselves from the building walls and made their jobs harder. Agent Coulson was only a mortal and he was starting to get tired, which was a bad thing. He knew that.

Breathing heavily, he swung the axe at another wire (why were there so many?) and put his hand to his earpiece.

[Thor! Do you have any leads yet?]

[Nay, Son of Coul. I cannot weaken the spell any more nor find the source of it.]

[THAT was weakened?] Tony Stark burst in.

[If I had not been, then trust me when I say that there would be much more than electrical wires attacking you.]

That made the millionaire shut up. [What about you, Stark. How is the manual override coming?]

[It’s not!] he barked over the radio and Coulson could hear something breaking on the other side. [This is magic, and JARVIS’ systems aren’t programmed to repel that. Hell, I don’t even know how to access my own computer with this THING messing everything up!]

[Then what do we do?] Black Widow asked, sounding out of breath.

[I cannot keep this up forever, Son of Coul.] Thor added, ashamed.

[Guys...?] A hesitant voice came onto the radio.

Phil clenched his teeth and tried to concentrate. He needed to think of something and fast. Steve also seemed to be brainstorming for an idea of some sort. They were running out of time. If they didn’t get out of this mess soon then they would all be in trouble.

[Guys?]

There was still the threat of the virus or magic or whatever it was spreading to the surrounding buildings. Rather in the form of an object travelling there or just airborn. However, this thing might not be trying to do that in the first place. It had made no move to do anything else but hurt everyone inside the tower, which meant all of the Avengers. Perhaps it was not the world that this thing was after, but just the team of superheroes.

[GUYS!]

Phil jumped, being suddenly snapped out of his zone. He held his finger to the earpiece and responded to the desperate voice.

[I’m here, Andrews. What’s the-]

[The Quinjet isn’t responding to my commands!]

At that moment, everything seemed to slow down. The entire radio went quiet except for the sound of struggle from the pilot’s end. He grunted and continued. [You all need to get out! It’s aiming at the tower and-- oh shit! Shit, the radio cord is-- Fuck, I can’t eject! I can’t eject! I can’t-]

There was a sudden shriek of pain. The sound made everyone’s blood run cold and Phil could hear Natasha scream in surprise, cutting herself off by covering her mouth. The scream of utter torture and pain lasted for five seconds, but felt like hours.

Then there was radio silence. No static, no sound of struggle or breathing. It was a dead silence that would haunt everyone for a long time to come.

Phil barely regained control of his voice when he tried speaking into the earpiece again.

[Agent Andrews...?]

There was no answer. Tony Stark swore under his breath just loud enough to be heard over the comm. For a moment he forgot that the tower was attacking them, and that was the mistake that triggered the next event.

The sound of the Quinjet could be heard outside the tower window as it lowered itself in front of the main floor’s glass. Phil snapped out of his daze and quickly grabbed Levi. A missile readied itself and the agent could hear the high-pitched sound of the targeting system.

“Phil!” Steve cried out in a panic. He lunged for the smaller man and raised his shield to cover the both of them.

The explosive hit the ceiling and suddenly everything came crashing down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, wow that's a long chapter. Okay.
> 
> Okay so I'm also finished chapter 10, which is actually shorter than this. I'll post it once the epilogue is finished.


	10. Then it was all over

Phil Coulson coughed the dust out of his lungs and opened his eyes hesitantly. He was holding onto the scruff of Levi’s neck, though the dog had no plans on going anywhere soon. It was pitch black wherever they were, and they couldn’t see anything. The only thing they could hear was the dog panting and the occasional sound of the rubble settling around them.

Someone was holding onto Phil.

“Are you okay?” said a worried voice. It was Steve, he was in a protective position over the agent, both arms wrapped around him and shield covering his back. He immediately blushed and was glad that they couldn’t see anything.

“Yes.” he said slowly, trying to assess the situation. “It seems we’re trapped.”

“Yeah...”

Steve hesitantly loosened his hold on the agent and they moved apart. Phil let go of Levi and he moved to the side somewhere. “Stay with me.” he said to the dog. He couldn’t see him, but he knew that he didn’t need to be told in the first place.

“We need to move this rubble.” The agent could hear the captain fix his shield to his back.

“I wouldn’t recommend that. Everything on top of us in unstable, if we try and move something then there’s a large possibility that it will all come crashing down on us.”

“So what do we do? Wait?”

“There is nothing else to do. I’m sure that the rest of the team will get us out of here in no time. For now, let’s just sit and rest. There are three of us in here and a limited air supply.”

“Yeah...”

Phil bent over and felt around the floor for any hazards before sitting down. From what he could hear in front of him, it sounded like Steve did the same. For a moment, there was silence. Then the agent heard some pebbles being kicked and the other man shifting around.

“Where are you?”

“I’m right here, Steve.”

Their hands touch.

And just as quickly, the captain pulled away. “Sorry.”

Phil doesn’t respond.

“Hey, you command the team so well maybe I should be your sidekick.” He joked. It made the agent smile in the dark.

“I don’t think you have the shorts for it.”

“No fair!” he laughed. “I bet I...” 

“You what?”

“Do you smell that?”

Phil tensed, noticing the cold tone that Steve used. He sniffed the air and got goosebumps. A sudden feeling of dread washed over them. “Smoke.” he hisses.

The small area they were trapped in was warmer than he remembered. He breathes in again and the stench is stronger. “The tower is on fire.”

And they were trapped.

Phil acted fast. “Levi, lay down.” The dog obeyed him and both of the men do the same, making sure they’re low to the ground. Trying to move the rubble is even less of an option now. The rock could fall or they could let in the blaze which was in an unknown direction. Yet if they didn’t act, they would be cooked alive or smoked out. It was a lose-lose situation.

“Phil.” Steve coughed from somewhere to his left.

“Yes-?”

“Hold my hand.”

Phil could feel his stomach clench up and he hesitated. Part of him screamed to just do it, to say ‘yes’ and hold the man’s hand. Yet another part of him held him back.

“Please.” Steve almost begged.

The agent’s hand wandered to where Steve’s was. He placed his on top of it and slowly intertwined his fingers, feeling the calloused and worked skin. Neither of them said a word as the moments flew by holding each other’s hand. After a couple of minutes, Captain Rogers started coughing.

“Steve...?” “I’m fine.”

But both of them knew otherwise. The smoke was starting to irritate Phil’s lungs as well, and it took all of his self control to not cough or choke on the thick and dirty air. He could hear his own and the other’s laboured breathing.

“Steve.”  
“Yes?”  
“When we get out, when this is all over, I’m going to take a nice, long vacation.”  
“Haha, where?”  
“Nowhere special. Right here is good enough. Maybe I’ll go down to that nice italian bakery a couple blocks from here. Go to the beach. Who knows.”  
“Well, wherever you decide to go: I’ll be there.”  
“Oh really?”  
“Yeah. I don’t want to be anywhere near the Avengers while you’re out.”

It seemed like an eternity under the hot rock and rubble. More time passed and soon Phil noticed that Steve’s breathing bad gotten slower and more shallow.

“Steve.” he called. There was no answer. “Steve!”

Captain America made a hushed noise in reply, obviously weak. Agent Coulson was also beginning to fade away. His thoughts were jumbled and his brain complained from the lack of oxygen. Breathing was hard and it sounded like he had a cold. His hand moved over to the black dog beside him and he pet the animal. In response, Levi wagged his tail and nuzzled against the agent.

“You okay... boy?” he cooed weakly. The dog whimpered and nuzzled him again, showing no signs of being hurt by the smoke. Phil’s brain couldn’t register what that meant, nor focus on it. Instead, he wanted to get the weight off of his back. A heavy and sad truth that had been haunting him for the past month being here.

“Levi... I’m so sorry.” Agent Coulson could feel warm, salty tears streak down his face. He was dying, and he didn’t know if Steve was awake anymore. “I’m so sorry, Levi... Sorry... sorry...”

Phil choked back a sob. He didn’t want to die.

“Levi... I’m probably going to die, and I won’t be able to help you find a new family. Andrews... he’s gone now too. It’s my fault... I could have done something... maybe. God- and Ruth. Ruth too.”

The dog stopped panting and his ears perked up at the name. “I’m sorry, Levi.

“Ruth died a month ago. She was killed... k-killed by whatever is possessing our tower now. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Levi. I’m sorry. She went to visit the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in Europe.. to- to try and visit Andrews... but he wasn’t there. She got caught up in the chaos when this thing took control of the base. I’m sorry I couldn’t save her...”

{No.} A voice cut through the silence like a knife. Phil opened his heavy eyes to look around, but found that his vision was blinded by a sudden green light. 

{I am the one who is sorry.}

There was a loud crack and an explosion. Phil immediately jumped and covered Steve with his body, though he found when he opened his eyes that he didn’t need to. The area where the three had been was spotless and unharmed, while all of the rubble that had been trapping them was now anywhere but in the immediate area. Pieces of floor and ceiling were lodged in the surrounding walls or buildings, and Phil was glad he got Natasha to evacuate them.

Standing where Levi used to be was a very, very angry God of Mischief.

Loki was wearing what the agent saw him in last, if not more tattered and worn. It looked like he just went through hell and back, which he just might have. Green, furious smoke rolled off of him and his eyes glowed a bright white-green.

His hand jerked to the right and Phil jumped instinctively, still holding Steve in a protective embrace. A golden staff appeared from thin air in the god’s hand.

“Loki!” came a booming voice. Thor floated down from the sky and landed on the wrecked floor, stepping towards his brother. “Was this your doing?”

Loki’s eyes dimmed and he glanced at the God of Thunder without care. “I have been without magic for three years, brother.” he hissed. “Step aside and I will show you who is behind this.”

He raised his hand, green flames erupting from it. {Come out, you cur.} Loki spat in a language that the agent could somehow understand.

Quite suddenly, a figure literally ‘popped’ into existence in front of them. It was a HYDRA agent by the looks of him, but he had a large rock around his neck like a pendant. He struggled mid-air, as if he was being held up by his throat like in Star Wars. Phil wouldn’t doubt it. The man sputtered and tried to grip to something as he was floated closer to Loki’s face.

“You killed her.” he growled. It was a noise that made the agent’s blood run cold. “In all of my years of living, mortal, I have never known true family. It was torn from me and in turn I pushed back. For my actions I was punished. In hundreds and hundreds of years I never knew what it was like to be content. To not care about trying to be someone else or standing up to expectations not meant for one of your kind. That woman, the one of whom you shot down in Europe, was someone more important to me than you could ever imagine.”

The HYDRA agent’s face was purple now, and he flailed in the air desperately. His eyes begged and pleaded to be released, but Loki did no such thing.

“I was so alone, and I owed her so much.”

The man let out a blood curdling scream, making Thor and Phil cringe. The God of Thunder took a step towards his brother. “Brother, let him go. That is enough.”

“Was stealing that nord stone worth it, mortal? Do you feel good now? I am channelling every ounce of pain that you have caused with this artifact back into you, including every scorched corpse from the dragon and every shocked man from the electrical cords.”

“Loki. Stop!”

“This last moment is courtesy from the pilot you brutally murdered moments ago.”

The HYDRA agent cried out even louder, writhing in pain. Thor grabbed Loki by the shirt and tried to shake his concentration, to try and get him to let the man go. It didn’t work.

“Brother! That is enough, let the man go or I will force you to!”

“HE KILLED HER.”

“Levi.”

Loki froze at the name. Thor slowly let go of his clothing as he turned around to face Phil Coulson, who was staring defiantly at the God of Mischief. The HYDRA agent’s screams melted into whimpering as the two stared each other down.

“Ruth wouldn’t want this.” Phil murmured slowly, earning a horrified expression of realization from Loki. “She wouldn’t want you to do this.”

Loki just stared at the agent, slightly open-mouthed. After what seemed like an eternity, he closed it calmly and his fists unclenched. The HYDRA agent fell to the floor and gasped for breath, sobbing and curling up on the cold concrete. The sceptre in the god’s hand vanished into thin air and he lowered his arms.

Thor walked to the man on the ground and tore the nord stone from the necklace. The agent didn’t seem to notice as he shook in shock. The god then walked to the other and moved to put a hand on his shoulder. Loki jerked away and glared at him.

Then he sighed and looked down. No one dared touch him or try to move. When he did look up, only one person saw his face.

Phil stared at the young boy in front of him. Eyes filled to the brim with tears and wide with horror. He looked broken and lost, like a man who had gained everything and then lost it. Loki had finally gotten a second chance at being happy and now she was gone forever. The life he once had, the future that he could have seen before, was gone. Burned to dust in front of him.

{There is nothing left for me here.} he murmured quietly.

And then Loki was gone.

It was all over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is shorter compared to chapter 9 wow  
> waiT UP THERES ONE MORE CHAPTER DONE LEAVE YET


	11. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tying up some loose ends.

That was the end.

Loki was gone, disappeared to who knows where once again. Thor said that he was going to try and find his brother, maybe bring him back home and attempt to convince their father that he had changed. Agent Coulson doubted that the God of Mischief would be taken that easily, much less found in the first place. There were no leads and it was clear before that he had no intentions to try and take over again. No one had a clue to where he might be hiding.

Except maybe Phil.

(If one was looking at a particular apartment in a particular city in Canada, they would see a tall, dark man standing outside one of the doors. He would be looking at the red, wooden thing with a sad expression. His eyes would be red but dry. The mysterious dark man would not dare step inside the home. It was too painful. No one would notice him or care as he stood outside of the apartment for hours on end, forehead pressed against the old door. If one cared for metaphors or similes, they might compare the lonely man to a puppy waiting for his master to come home. She would never come- and he would eventually leave. Yet for that moment, he stayed.)

Iron Man waited for Doctor Banner to wake up in his post-hulk drowsiness and took him back inside. He said that he didn’t want to know what happened to the main floor, or how the entire tower was still standing. Tony Stark went off on a rant about the building structure anyways, and Bruce didn’t complain. Every once in awhile he would comment on something or ask an enthusiastic question, which the millionaire would happily answer. Pepper Potts was called and informed of what happened. She proceeded to chew Tony Stark out while Bruce Banner chuckled on the side.

Clint Barton tended to Natasha Romanova’s wounds. She had been cut a couple of times and he had been electrocuted once. They both mothered over each other like old war friends. When they were taken care of by the S.H.I.E.L.D. medics, Barton and Stark argued over who took out the most. They agreed that they had both contributed to a healthy amount of damage done to the Avengers tower. Thor promised to help rebuild. Tony got to work on floorplans immediately.

And for Captain America and Agent Coulson? They both found each other again after they had been tended to. Phil nagged Steve about the condition of his lungs and vice versa. Then they both laughed when they heard themselves, having to clutch at their stomachs. One sat down on the edge of the roof and the other followed, taking a moment to appreciate that their friend was alive.

“You saved us all today.” Steve said.

“I did?”

“If it wasn’t for you, Levi-- Loki would never have... woken up I guess. I don’t really understand how that magic worked, maybe he saved it up while he was trapped in the form of a dog.”

“Are The Avengers going to give chase?”

“We think that the God of Mischief deserves some time to himself.”

“Wow.”

“Thank god you were here.”

“Well...”

“Phil, I can’t tell you how happy I am that you stayed.”

“Really?”

“You’re so special and you don’t even know it.”

When Phil looked to his side where Steve sat, he found the man smiling at him. He couldn’t help but return the expression, it was almost contagious. He looked very young, like he had no worries in the world and that right now he was happy. It made the agent’s stomach fill with butterflies.

“Can I say something to you?” Steve asked.

“What?” Phil turned slightly to face the man. His heart was beating a thousand times a minute.

“I’m- I’m quite fond of you.”

“Fond?” A wide smile spread across Phil’s face in amusement. The fact that it had been three years since the captain had thawed out and he still used words like that was endearing and almost adorable. Steve blushed at the grin and continued.

“Do people not say fond anymore?”

“Did they ever?”

“What do they say?”

“When?”

“When they--”

They were very close now, sitting on the edge of the Avengers tower. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, making an array of warm colours explode over the sky. Oranges and pinks decorated the buildings below and reflected onto the pair.

“When they want to... kiss someone.”

“They- They just... I think they just do it.”

And Steve did. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Phil’s. There was no cliche moment when the agent didn’t know what to do, or was too shocked to kiss back. He just kissed back, because he had been waiting for this. Steve moved his arm around Phil’s waist and pulled them closer, warmth seeping through each other’s clothing.

Coulson rested his free hand on the other’s shoulder and for awhile they just sat there as the sun went down. Lips pressed against one another’s in a kiss.

That night, they both slept with the other wrapped around them in the same bed.

Phil Coulson had a good future to look forward to. He was part of The Avengers now, not to mention a relationship with Steve Rogers. He wasn’t going to run away again any time soon.

The two of them were like two pieces of a puzzle. Each of them knew that they had been missing something before then, and now that they had it they were never going to let go.

Phil had a family now. If they called, he would most definitely be there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh jeez, thank you ALL for reading!! (whoever you are, if there is indeed anyone reading this thing).  
> This is the end of I'll Be There. I hope you liked it! Please leave a comment or something and tell me what you think!


End file.
